Stoves/Ovens on ships in the 1600s and Onward

[acaron41120]

I have read a number of books about historical ships like the Santa Maria, Half Moon, Golden Hind, Mayflower etc. I've never read anything about cooking aboard ships of the 1600s and onward. As an example; the Mayflower had many settlers aboard. Did these settlers cook their meals aboard ship or did they eat "hardtack" and cold meals? If they cooked meals aboard ship, what was used to cook them and where were they located aboard ship?

[bruce d]

Hello Allen,

Not a proper answer to your excellent question but perhaps this is worth a look:

Many plans of ships and other craft at the NMM show the location of the cooking area, and of course you can also spot the chimney in many museum models. Also, shipwreck archaeologists usually look closely for any evidence of a galley, usually indicated by bricks and distinctive ironwork so some of the reports posted here may help.

 

HTH

[acaron41120]

Bruce. Thanks for the references. I'll check them out tomorrow. I spoke with a friend of mine who knows I'd rather read and turn pages than check on line but still told me to look it up on line. So I did and found an article entitled "A Meal Onboard Ship in the 16th Century." It seems to be a good answer. There are probably many more. 

[druxey]

Usually the cooking arrangements were situated forward. I presume that this was to have any smoke blow clear of the ship rather than make folk cough as it blew forward along the length of the decks! Earlier stoves were of brickwork. Due to the weight, they were placed low in the hull on the lower deck or even lower. Once comparatively lighter iron stoves came into use around or a little before 1700, the cooking area was moved to the upper deck.

[wefalck]

The (digital) archives of the Danish Naval yard in Copenhagen are full of detailed drawings for stoves and baking ovens from the 18th century onward. They became more and more sophisticated also with the view to make them fire-safe.

[uss frolick]

The Wasa provides some answers. Her stove was essentially a brick lined wooden box. The archeological drawings:

 

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50525123216_c223556a67_b.jpg[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jYJsS5]0[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/165793220@N04/]Stephen Duffy[/url], on Flickr

 

 

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2jYKieb][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50525285912_538a1c1d36_h.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2jYKieb]0-1[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/165793220@N04/]Stephen Duffy[/url], on Flickr

 

Edit by MTaylor..  Sorry.. I tried to fiddle with the first one and no joy.   Best way is download the photo to your HDD and then use the image attachment (paperclip - lower left hand side).

[uss frolick]

They're not working, (again) and the normal, edit-post tab doesn't appear either ... drat.

[dafi]

In our german forum we have a nice collection of fire hearths throughout the centuries. 🙂

 

https://www.segelschiffsmodellbau.com/t4032f643-Kochen-auf-See-Herde-und-Feuerstellen-auf-Schiffen-2.html#msg176014

 

Note: Registration needed to see the page

 

XXXDAn

[mtaylor]

On 10/24/2020 at 11:58 AM, uss frolick said:

They're not working, (again) and the normal, edit-post tab doesn't appear either ... drat.

Frolick,  I tried and for some reason failed on fixing it.  I left you a note in the post on what to try.

[iMustBeCrazy]

Well, the preview says it will work, so here's what happens when I hit 'submit reply'.

 

 

 

 

[Chuck Seiler]

Some are fancier than others.  Here is the firepit from gunboat PHILADELPHIA.