Cod, pickles and lots of wine: this was the diet on an 18th century ship

Simón López, Diego Coudous and Diego Guarinelo lived between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, in the powerful and rich province of Cádiz, in the South of Spain. Hardly anything is known about them: neither when they were born, nor how or when their days ended. But their wills — written between 1699 and 1763 — provide two valuable pieces of information. All three were cooks on board ships that were going to make long overseas voyages… and each man felt that the enterprise they were going to embark on was so dangerous and uncertain that it was better to leave their earthly belongings behind.

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