Reminiscence of Captain Cook.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 63, 3 January 1908, Page 3

Reminiscence of Captain Cook.

On looking through some ship's ac-count-books kept by4he great circumnavigator, Captain Cook, when*at sea, it is interesting to note how frequently dried currants appear amoqg the articles of diet served out to his sailors ; the entries generally representing a quarter of a pound of currants per man. There is nothing to denote in what particular way the currants were used, but most probably they were pelt into bread, cakes and puddings, and also eaten raw. Clearly, the gallant discoverer had a high opinion of currants as a food. Experience would teach him that the dried fruit —at once wholesome and full of nourishment—largely counteracted the lack of vegetables and kept his men fit. Modern science strikingly confirms Captain Cook's judgment. The past president of the Society of Public Analysts asserts that currants contain 99 per cent, of soluble food, and the eminent analyst is supported by Sir Francis Laking, the King's physician, who advises everybody to accept currants—particularly in the form of white or Hovis currant bread —as an indispensible article of daily food.