What did Matthew Flinders eat?

Answer 1

Common food for sea explorers of Flinders' time was anything that would keep well for a long journey. Such foods included salted meats, especially salted beef and pork, as there was no refrigeration. Staples such as wheat flour, rice, potatoes, tea and sugar would have been included. He took a great deal of "biscuit", which was really just a mix of flour and water, often called hard tack. Flinders had also read Captain Cook's reports, so he would have followed his example and included vitamin-C rich foods such as sauerkraut and citrus syrups, to help ward off scurvy. When Flinders and his crew were at the Bountiful Islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria, they hunted green turtles, and took enough meat to last them several months.