Scurvy turned distance into bodily damage

On long eighteenth-century voyages, diets short of fresh produce could deprive sailors of vitamin C. The resulting scurvy weakened connective tissue: gums deteriorated, old wounds could reopen and crews lost the strength needed to work a ship. Duration at sea became a biological hazard built into naval logistics.

People then did not understand vitamins, and useful remedies were adopted unevenly despite accumulated observations. Disease alone did not determine the Wager expedition; storms, command decisions and ship condition mattered too. But scurvy shows how an empire’s reach depended on provisioning bodies, not only building vessels and issuing orders.