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bluGill04/23/20252 repliesview on HN

Beer was known to go bad on long voyages. So long as the beer held out though there was no scurvy.


Replies

larsga04/23/2025

Beer does not cure scurvy. Scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C, which is not in beer.

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0cf8612b2e1e04/23/2025

Beer staying fresh seems like a proxy for voyage duration. Longer trips means more likely to have run out of beer/vitamin C sources. No beer probably means no dock where sailors could have consumed anything other than highly preserved food.