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Seventeenth-Century Shipboard Food: The Ship Biscuit & Salted Beef Research Project

Wednesday, 25 January 2023, 12 pm CST

Join the Institute of Nautical Archaeology on Zoom for a Webinar with recent Texas A&M graduate Dr. Grace Tsai. Dr Tsai will discuss replicating shipboard food – salted beef and pork, ship biscuit, beer and wine, and other provisions – using archaeological and historical data. Grace’s team simulated an oceanic voyage by storing food in casks on Elissa, the 1877 tall ship docked in Galveston, Texas. By analyzing the food in a laboratory for their nutritional and microbiological data, the team got a glimpse into the unique food situation and health of past sailors during the Age of Sail.

View the webinar here.

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IMH Reinvigorated

The New Year brings new change. The Institute conducted no fieldwork during the Covid-19 pandemic, but in 2022 we were re-energized by a new President, Vice President, and Board of Directors. We plan to get back to work in 2023, scouring the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries and the ocean worldwide searching for long lost wrecks and telling their story, monitoring previously identified wrecks, and conducting refresher training in archaeological work.

Looking to the future, we will resume efforts to recruit new volunteers, train our members in archaeological standards and procedures, and stand by to assist the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the U.S. Navy, Maryland Historical Trust, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and other agencies and archaeological societies. Keep an eye on the Blog for future archaeological opportunities!