This might be a dumb question, but I've always been curious...You always hear about ships in history that get lost at sea, run out of food and then the passengers starve to death. Is there a logical reason why they couldn't have just fished for food? Even if they didn't have fishing poles you would think that nets would be standard equipment on any ship. Anyone have any clue on this? And I know that this wouldn't fix the problem of running out of water...but I'm just talking about starvation.
2007-12-12 08:10:25 · 15 answers · asked by TheGrimRipper 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
I wanted to add that I did know that most often people ran out of water, but I have heard of food going rancid or running out, whatever. Like you often hear about people having to subsist on a bread and water diet at sea if the rest of the food runs out or goes bad.
You wouldn't need bait if you were fishing with a net (at least not that I know of). And it would be really heavy, but most of the work on a ship is hard and some of it seems impossible, but they managed, so you would think they would be able to haul a net of fish onboard.
2007-12-12 08:28:23 · update #1
Oh and I should add since someone mentioned WWII I am talking about ships as in sailed vessels from a couple hundred years ago. Not modern ships like the Titanic and so on.
2007-12-12 08:30:50 · update #2
Death via dehydration was far more frequent than starving.
In deep sea its harder to catch fish, and they are often bigger, which makes bringing them in harder.
What would you use as bait?
Also, it wasn't really starvation that mattered as much as lack of certain nutrients. That would lead to sicknesses like scurvy.
2007-12-12 08:13:07 · answer #1 · answered by Yun 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
There are very few fish that live off shore and near the top surface of the water. Most fish caught off shore are ground fish caught by drag netters. There was no sonar to locate schools of fish like boats have now, so it was much harder to find them. They also wouldn’t want to lose time covering distance because they can’t sail and fish at the same time. Losing time could be dangerous, as well as sitting still since piracy was more prevalent then as well. I’m sure if they were starving to death they probably would fish, as a necessity. They also didn’t have the extensive fishing gear or knowledge of good fishing practices we have today.
2016-05-23 06:26:44 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most life rafts do contain some kind of fishing equipment and have since at least World War II time. The problem is catching fish. Most of those that could be handled by starving people live in the shallower waters near shore. Deep ocean fish tend to be larger and to swim deeper.
2007-12-12 08:21:21 · answer #3 · answered by Tom 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh... I don't know..... the body can go about 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, and 3 hours without heat. Dehydration could have been a big part of it, and heat could be a problem. What would they fish with? The fish would be too fast.
2007-12-12 08:14:55 · answer #4 · answered by Lizzie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need bait to fish. Also, you would tend to develop a nutritional deficiency from a diet of just fish, that is if you didn't die from dehydration first, which isn't likely because you can go much longer without food than without water.
2007-12-12 08:13:23 · answer #5 · answered by TobyFox 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It may have had something to do with the fact that the specimens found in the deep sea/ocean areas are not as acceptable for human consumption as fresh water fish, due to the heavy concentration of salt & other trace materials (algae, .....etc).
In addition, consider the kind of potential creatures to be found in these areas: humpback whales, sharks, dolphins, etc..... doesn't sound too tasty to me!!!
2007-12-12 08:20:43 · answer #6 · answered by EF 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it is almost always about water in these situations. Sometimes when they have been stranded for months it can become a vitamin problem, but it takes a while.
2007-12-12 08:13:47 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
i think they die of thirst generally rather than starve, but without any riggable fishing gear they could starve if they had enough water to let them starve...p.s. i've never heard of people starving at sea.
2007-12-12 08:13:51 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Good ?. Your on to somthing here. Wait no, actually it's so you can kill and eat the guy you don't like.....No really , they should put mandatory cast nets on all ships.
2007-12-12 08:15:11 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Great question ,when I think of it this way there really is no reason why they starved. lol
2007-12-12 08:13:34 · answer #10 · answered by rollie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋