FEEDING THE NAVY.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 27 October 1917, Page 4

FEEDING THE NAVY.

MARVELS OF A DREADNOUGHT LARDER, When a Dreadnought fares forth to sea she carries in her hold provisions sufficient, it would seem, to feed an army. In her capacious refrigerators you will see 300 quarters of the best beef Britain can produce —frozen, it is true, but always fresh when it comes to Jack's table. The flour she carries is counted literally in thousands of sacks, each containing 2401b., and labelled with the date of its manufacture as guarantee of its condition. Three hundred tons of flour waiting to be converted in the ship's steam bakeries into bread of excellent quality and freshness!

Of potatoes there are hundreds of tons, supplemented by Pelions of preserved turnips, carrots, and celery. There are phalanxes of casks of salt pork, with small mountains of corned beef and mutton —affectionately dubbed "Fanny Adams" by Jack —to fall back on if, owing to a prolonged voyage, fresh meat should run short.

Sugar and tea sufficient to stock shops by the score are there —the tea in hundredweight chests, the sugar in long rows of barrels, stowed for'ard. In the dry provision hold you will find, in addition to canned foods, enormous quantities of raisins and currants, suet, and salmon, and jam; while aft, salt is to be found in serried rows of barrels, in neighbourhood to the thousands of tins of condensed milk.

Such are the principal contents of a Dreadnought larder, over which the Paymaster presides as ship's housekeeper, seeing that every man aboard has an ample supply of good, nourishing, and appetising food. If Jack demands luxuries such as the Paymaster cannot supply, he has the canteen ready to supply him in exchange for his cash.

For an appetiser he can buy a wide range of delicacies, from brawn to butter-beans. He may add to his menu a slice or two of excellent boiled ham, a couple of kippers or herrings, or a tin of sardines. He may be a sybarite if he likes, with tinned peaches, pears or apples to grace his board; or he may feast on fresh eggs, tinned tongue, kidneys, or rashers. If he is more modest in his appetite he can at least always supplement the Paymaster's allowance with as much butter and cheese as he requires, without making much demand on his purse.