Pirates' Diet to Survive at Sea

What did pirates eat and drink? A pirate's life was tough when it came to food as they went to sea for a long time. They ate mostly cookies, dried beans and dried beef, which could be stored for a long term. However, they did not eat such food every day. Burgoo, a dish of oatmeal seasoned with salt and molasses (is a kind of sweet sauce) was sometimes eaten - a thick stew or porridge: As for drinks, they drank beer, ale or rum instead of perishable water; in the 18th century, some pirates drank a gallon of beer a day, so much so that alcohol was indispensable to them. Rum is a distilled liquor made by fermenting molasses, and because it is inexpensive to produce. Therefore, it was popular at the time not only among pirates but also in the colonies and the Caribbean. Since they lived on the ship, the pirates often had trouble finding food. When the pirate Henry Morgan and his crew ran aground in 1670, they cut a leather bag into small pieces, fried it and ate it. The companions of C...