• solrize@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    87
    ·
    2 months ago

    I looked him up and he is English. Weren’t English sailors called Limeys because of the lime juice in their rations, specifically for scurvy prevention? He should have signed up with the Admiralty instead of the pirates.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      86
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Funny enough…

      1. Yes.

      2. The lime juice was meant as a cheaper alternative to lemon juice. And it wasn’t very effective, lmao. National militaries and sabotaging the health of their troops to save a buck - name a more iconic duo.

      • Hotdog Salesman@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        2 months ago

        It was cheaper in the sense of they imported from limes from the Carribean and lemons from India, which with no Suez canal is a pretty big difference. And at the same time they invented steam power, shortening voyages so the reduced effectiveness wasn’t noticed until longer voyages due to newer military doctrines occurred again

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          2 months ago

          Well, the reduced effectiveness was noticed. It created significant uncertainty, funny enough, over the actual causes of scurvy, since apparently citrus fruit wasn’t enough, until more rigorous studies happened in the 20th century.

          • addictedtochaos@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            2 months ago

            thats true, i took vitamin c like crazy when i was out of copper, it didnt do a thing. so i tried copper, was fine for a while, got worse again despite copper, then took vitamin c. went from looking like a corpse in looking merely a bit sick in 24 hours.

      • x4740N@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        2 months ago

        “National militaries and sabotaging the health of their troops to save a buck - name a more iconic duo.”

        That literally sounds like america though

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          2 months ago

          It’s, sadly, applicable to most militaries throughout history and the modern day.