Cruikshank's 1820 image showed what was needed to outfit a very young midshipman (in blue), including food and drinks.
“Fitting out” from The Progress of a Midshipman exemplified in the career of Master Blockhead in seven plates & frontispiece by Captain Frederick Marryat (1792-1848), sketches improved by George Cruikshank (1792-1878), in the Yale Center for British Art.
Sea chest labeled:
"Mastr Willm Blockhead
HM Ship Hellfire
West India Station."
The father, on the left, is holding a very long paper of “List of Necessaries for Fitting out a Midshipman.” The piles of bills on the table show that it was expensive to outfit a young teenage midshipman.
Inventory list on the lid. Labels of contents for sea chest: "Preserved meat W.B." (box), "Green Tea" (lg tin), "Pickles" (3 jars), "Epson Salts" (bottle), "Cherry Brandy" (2 bottles), "Portable Soup" (box). "James’s Powders" and "Rags for Wounds" in chest.
“He hails in life’s advancing day
Amusive hopes & prospects gay
Nor in the wide horizon round
Can e’er one little speck be found
To cloud the scene. Anon"
Blog post on rations and rationing taped talks HERE
Blog posts on Memorial Day HERE
Blog posts on Military HERE
CALENDAR OF VIRTUAL FOOD HISTORY TALKS HERE
©2025 Patricia Bixler Reber
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