Christmas dinner at sea

Spending Christmas away from home was a fate often suffered by seafarers, but they tried to make the best of it with a good meal. We hold the journal of William Oates (D/O/17), master of the ship Hants, who writes about his first Christmas Day away from home, anchored off the coast of West Africa in 1853. 'Dr T & I agreed to have a stylish dinner prepared on his vessel..., so of course this morning I sent half the pig with 1 goat and a couple of fowls on board with him, and at 12 noon took myself there and I daresay we enjoyed as good a dinner as any of our friends at home in cold England' Another meat heavy menu, I hope it wasn't just the two of them.
Lead image: Luncheon menu, White Star Line ship Gothic, 25th December 1895 (ref SAS/29/18/22)