On shore establishments and depot ships ¼ pt. fresh milk is issued in lieu of the ¾ oz. of condensed milk.
In the United States navy there is more liberality and variety of diet, the approximate daily cost of the rations supplied being 1s. 3d. per head. In the American mercantile marine, too, according to the scale sanctioned by act of Congress (December 21, 1898) for American ships, the seaman is better off than in the British merchant service. The scale is shown in Table III.
+---------+-----------------------++-----------+----------------+ | Weekly | Articles. || Weekly | Articles. | | Scale. | || Scale. | | +---------+-----------------------++-----------+----------------+ | 3½ lb. | Biscuits. || 7/8 oz. | Tea. | | 3¾ " | Salt beef. || 21 " | Sugar. | | 3 " | " pork. || 1½ lb. | Molasses. | | 1½ " | Flour. || 9 oz. | Fruits, dried. | | 2 " | Meats, preserved. || ¾ pt. | Pickles. | | 10½ " | Bread, fresh (8 lb. || 1 " | Vinegar. | | | flour in lieu). || 8 oz. | Corn Meal. | | 1 " | Fish, dried. || 12 " | Onions. | | 7 " | Potatoes or yams. || 7 " | Lard. | | 1 " | Tomatoes, preserved. || 7 " | Butter. | |2/3 " | Peas. || ¼ " | Mustard. | |2/3 " | Calavances. || ¼ " | Pepper. | |2/3 " | Rice. || ¼ " | Salt. | | 5¼ oz. | Coffee, green. || | | +---------+-----------------------++-----------+----------------+
In the British mercantile marine there is no scale of provisions prescribed by the Board of Trade; there is, however, a traditional scale very generally adopted, having the sanction of custom only and seldom adhered to. The following dietary scale for steerage passengers, laid down in the 12th schedule of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, is of interest. See Table IV.
Certain substitutions may be made in this scale at the option of the master of any emigrant ship, provided that the substituted articles are set forth in the contract tickets of the steerage passengers.
In the British army the soldier is fed partly by a system of co-operation. He gets a free ration from government of 1 lb. of bread and ¾ lb. of meat; in addition there is a messing allowance of 3½d. per man per day. He is able to supplement his food by purchases from the canteen. Much depends on the individual management in each regiment as to the satisfactory expenditure of the messing allowance. In some regiments an allowance is made from the canteen funds towards messing in addition to that granted by the government. The ordinary _field_ ration of the British soldier is 1½ lb. of bread or 1 lb. of biscuit; 1 lb. of fresh, salt or preserved meat; ½ oz. of coffee; 1/6 oz. of tea; 2 oz. of sugar; ½ oz. of salt, 1/36 oz. of pepper, the whole weighing something over 2 lb. 3 oz. This cannot be looked on as a fixed ration, as it varies in different campaigns, according to the country into which the troops may be sent. The Prussian soldier during peace gets weekly from his canteen 11 lb. 1 oz. of rye bread and not quite 2½ lb. of meat. This is obviously insufficient, but under