Tudor fisherman cast their nets as far away as CANADA: Research shows 16th century ships were travelling 2,000 miles for catch

  • Scientists tested DNA from 11 cod bones from Henry VIII's Mary Rose ship
  • The flagship had 400 men and a full store of provisions but sank in 1545
  • Three cod were from North Sea, seven from Iceland but one from Canada
  • Study suggests demand for fish fueled the colonisation of North America  

Fish served on the dinner tables of Tudor England could have been caught more than 2,000 miles away off the coast of North America, research revealed yesterday.

DNA tests on the bones of cod provisions stored on Henry VIII’s doomed warship the Mary Rose reveal that some came from as far away as Canada.

Demand for fish from the growing urban population forced mariners to seek new supplies further afield – which in turn helped fuel the colonisation of Northern America, the Cambridge University study suggests.

DNA tests on the bones of cod provisions stored on Henry VIII’s doomed warship the Mary Rose reveal that some came from as far away as Canada

DNA tests on the bones of cod provisions stored on Henry VIII’s doomed warship the Mary Rose reveal that some came from as far away as Canada

Researchers examined 11 bones stored around the ship using stable isotope analysis, which reflects the diet and environmental conditions, and ancient DNA analysis. It showed one was form Canada

Researchers examined 11 bones stored around the ship using stable isotope analysis, which reflects the diet and environmental conditions, and ancient DNA analysis. It showed one was form Canada

The Mary Rose was the flagship of Henry VIII’s fleet when it sank in the Solent during a battle with an invading French fleet in 1545. Over 400 men went down with it, as well as a full store of provisions.

Its remains, which were raised in 1982, provide a time capsule of naval life during the Tudor England, including thousands of bones from dried or salted cod from casks and baskets.

Researchers examined 11 bones stored around the ship using stable isotope analysis, which reflects the diet and environmental conditions of the fish from its protein chemistry, and ancient DNA analysis.

When cross-referenced with each other and other historical records they provided reliable evidence about the waters where the cod was caught almost half a millennium ago.

SHIPS THAT RAN ON PRESERVED COD AND EIGHT PINTS OF BEER A DAY

If you were a Tudor sailor serving in the navy, you could expect a daily ration of preserved cod or meat, biscuit, two ounces of butter – as well as a gallon of beer.

The drink, the equivalent of eight pints, was served in preference to water – which became undrinkable when kept in casks for long periods away at sea.

Three times a week it helped wash down a quarter portion of cod, which could be over a foot long. The other four days it was drunk with meat.

The daily beer ration lasted well into the 17th century. But its tendency to go sour in warmer climates meant that as the British Empire expanded further it began to be replaced with rum.

Dr James Barrett said: ‘Cod was great value for money as a provision, particularly as space and durability were an issue on board a ship.’

Dr James Barrett, from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, said urban populations didn’t have room for cows in their back yards which led to demand from the sea

Dr James Barrett, from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, said urban populations didn’t have room for cows in their back yards which led to demand from the sea

They found that three of the samples came from the northern North Sea, while seven were from waters off the coast of Iceland, where locals often preserved cod by air-drying it during winter months to trade. But one sample appeared to be from across the Atlantic, probably from Newfoundland off the north-east of Canada, where an English fishery had begun in 1502.

Dr James Barrett, from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, said: ‘Urban populations didn’t have room for cows in their back yards.

'We know from these bones that one of the sources of demand was naval provisions.

‘The existence and development of globalised fisheries was one of the things that made the growth of the navy possible.

‘The navy was a key mechanism of maritime expansion, while at the same time being sustained by that expansion.’

He said at the time of the Mary Rose in 1545, Newfoundland was a small-scale seasonal fishery, but within a century it had developed into a major economic concern, of greater value than the fur trade.

‘The need for fish stocks was an important driver of involvement in north-eastern North America,’ he said.

‘The fish trade was one of the key links in the causal chain of European expansion to that continent.

 

 

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