It is my firm opinion that one should carry plenty of good salt meat when bound on a long cruise, and rely as little as possible on tinned provisions. The temperature is very high on small vessels in the tropics, and this does undoubtedly in time set up some sort of chemical change in tinned meat--a change which, though it may not be perceptible to the senses, can be productive of much ill health. The salt meat should be of the right sort too. It is not advisable to go, as I myself once did, to even the best of butchers in a seaport town and have fresh meat salted down. This is excellent at first, but it will not keep long on the small vessel. It is far better to procure the older, much-travelled, well-tested salt meat, less tasty though it be. The good firms of purveyors empty the cask, examine each piece of beef, and repickle it, before sending it on board; such beef will keep through the longest voyage and in any climate.
It is certain that no sort of food will remain sweet and wholesome so long on a small as on a big craft. It is amongst other things essential to have the supply of biscuit divided into a number of hermetically sealed tins. The best made bread locker will not prevent maggots, weevils, and other loathsome insects from swarming among the biscuit as soon as the 50-tonner reaches the tropics, and the better the quality of the biscuit the more rapid and complete will be the spoiling of it. It must not be forgotten that tinned ship's bread can only be procured in England, so a sufficient supply must be laid in before one sails.
This brings me to another point. It is not only advisable to take from England all the biscuit wanted, but also, if possible, all the tinned meats and suchlike stores. If more be needed in the course of the voyage, it should be sent out from England and transshipped. In the ports of the West Indies, of the Indian Ocean, or indeed on any tropical coast, though one may come across honest ship-chandlers--I have frequently been lucky enough to do so myself--it will be found that, even with them, prices are apt to be exorbitant; while their goods are often of inferior quality, or, when of good brands, old and damaged. With the dishonest ship-chandlers, who are not rare, one is likely to have still worse experiences. Were I again to fit out a yacht for a lengthy cruise, I should take everything of this sort with me, or make arrangements with a good English firm to send me out relays of supplies to certain places at which it was my intention to call. I should only rely on the ports for fresh meat, vegetables, fruit and suchlike perishable commodities.