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Of interest to young readers!
THE GOAT WHO SAILED THE WORLD
The Endeavourhad a milk goat aboard
who, after surviving at least two voyages
around the world, was rewarded with
honoured pastorage upon retirement.
Author Jackie French uses the goat’s eye
view in this fascinating children’s book,
to bring alive the sailing adventures of
Cook, Joseph Banks and others.
Isaac is twelve and is on the crew of the
Endeavour as a master’s servant. And
this goat even has more experience at
sea than Isaac - she has already sailed
around the world once, watching the
ocean and lands slip by from her
spot on the quarterdeck. Over the months on
board, a friendship grows between Isaac and the goat, one that
will last through shipwreck, bushfire and illness, and help in the
discovery of exotic new lands.
Written by Jackie French, an award-winning writer and regarded as
one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors. A teaching guide
is available online:
COOK TACKLES SCURVY
Scurvy, the ‘plague of the sea’, claimed the lives of over two
million sailors during the great ‘Age of the Sail’. All sorts of ghastly
cures such as bleeding and mercury were
administered to attempt a cure, but these
only added to the suffering and death toll.
We now know what prevents scurvy
and helps to cure this dreadful disease:
lemons and oranges, ascorbic acid,
and of course, simply Vitamin C. James
Lind’s Treatise on Scurvy (1753) correctly
identified the citrus fruit as both preventive
and curative, but it was not known why.
What was the effective part?
Often containers of fruit juice were sent on
voyages, but the processing and storage
methods compromised the benefits of the
acidity. For a time, it was thought that limes were more effective,
so the juice was added to the sailor’s daily portion of grog, thus
giving them the nickname ‘Limeys’.
Cook was very keen to find a cure and tried many things to keep
his crew healthy: stopping ashore for fresh food often, keeping
the ship clean, serving sauerkraut, and yes, those lemons and
oranges. It was believed at the time that beer helped, so they
experimented with spruce leaf beer as well as herbal teas, both
using the NZ manuka leaves. Indeed, his voyages had fewer cases
of the disease – Cook was the first captain to circumnavigate the
world without losing one life to scurvy.
Ironically, scurvy may be having a resurgence. Due to bad eating
habits (including ‘fast food’ and ‘heat-and-eat’ meals), and a lack
of fresh fruit and vegetables, patients are presenting with bleeding
gums, aching joints, bruising skin and other distressful symptoms,
with doctors scrambling for a cause.
Yep! Ahoy mate, you may have scurvy. (And it can begin in as little
as four weeks.) See
CAPTAIN COOK HITS AUSSIE TABLOIDS!
Then we were surprised to find the captain was frontpage
fodder in an Aussie
tabloid: an uproar as
some want Captain
Cook’s role to be
relabeled as “invading
Australia” rather than
“discovering” it.
We’ll stay out of that
debate, and go have a
brew. Manuka that is...
Cheers! – Carol Wright
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Pupils of the Thames School of Mines at a gold mining shaftPhoto: Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19011212-9-3
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