I read a terrific book about this called Scurvy by Stephen R Bown.<p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/193845.Scurvy" rel="nofollow">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/193845.Scurvy</a><p>But if you’ve read TFA you mightn’t have enough time left to read the book because it’s nearly as long. ;-)<p>Difficult problem, scurvy, because of the large time between cause and effect. And the cause isn’t even an element - it is a lack.<p>Difficult!
I would recommend reading a good book on Magellan's journey around the world. It's pretty terrifying how people would go on such a trip given not just Scurvy but just about every other danger you could imagine...<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-World-Terrifying-Circumnavigation/dp/006093638X" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-World-Terrifying-Circumnavi...</a>
A good book is also the Terror by Dan Simmons, goes into more than scurvy..... <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Terror-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316486094" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Terror-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316486094</a><p>Just finished it yesterday.. recommended!!
<a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/24149/how-scurvy-was-cured-then-cure-was-lost" rel="nofollow">https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/24149/how-scurvy-was-cur...</a> has a fascinating description of the history of humanity's understanding of scurvy.
it's so ironic that people would have fallen prey to a disease that is so easily mitigated. Vitamin-C is one of the most abundant vitamins out there. Lemons and oranges get all the credit for vitamin C but actually, there's countless examples of plant based foods that have Vitamin-C: just check the vitamin C radio box: <a href="https://kale.world/c" rel="nofollow">https://kale.world/c</a><p>Here's a short list:
red/green peppers
spinach
watercress
pok choi
kale
brussel sprouts
chard
cabbage
peas<p>Just about any leafy green vegetable.<p>Heck, they could have ate the weeds growing in someone's garden: Purslane, fireweed, oxalys, and they would've had more than enough vitamin C.<p>i think it's the nature of being out at sea only eating processed reserves that made them so vulnerable to the disease.