3-053-599 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Life on board a troop-ship: dinner-time, 1873. Engraving from a sketch by Major W. O. Carlile, of the Royal Artillery, of lunch on board the Himalaya troopship. 'The beef, fresh or salt, or the salt pork, or preserved meat, with rice or potatoes, the meat essence, the preserved vegetables and pease for soup or broth, and the flour, suet, and raisins for pudding, have been in the hands of the cooks for two hours. Each mess-table is crowded,...from fifteen to twenty in number, with a sergeant or corporal at their head. The tin can at the upper end of the table holds soup or porter. The allowance of meat at sea is but ten ounces for each man, instead of one pound, the allowance when on shore...Where the wives and children of soldiers are on board, the scene is much less agreeable. They are too commonly huddled together in a close atmosphere below, rendered more unpleasant and unwholesome by the want of convenience for washing. While many are sick, others are crying or squabbling, and the voyage is a severe trial to them. A few kind husbands will come down to look after the comforts of their wives and babes. Such men, it is said, are invariably found the bravest soldiers in the field of battle, the most patient and constant in a fatiguing march'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.