From pea soup to hors d'oeuvres: the status of the cook on British merchant ships.

The sea-going cook has often been portrayed as a legendary figure by both contemporaries and writers of maritime fiction. For some, he was the most important — and the most interesting — figure on board: "Ship's cooks not only deserve our attention; they command it, dumbly yet imperiously."1 Yet little historical research has been done on them, even though they were one of the most established groups in the maritime labour force. At their best, they were innovative, independent, creative and lucky. At worst, their destiny was to be the most hated member of the crew — after the captain, of course. To be called the "son of a sea cook" was, according to an article in The Seaman, "in nautical circles, even more grievous an insult than to be called a soldier. He is not the man whose services are valued and from whom much is expected who acquires the cognomen of Slushie.'"2 This essay focuses on the 1906 Merchant Shipping Act and its significance in increasing the status of the cook's profession at sea. The act made it compulsory for every British vessel of 1000 gross tons or more to carry a certificated cook. Cooks could obtain their certificates by examination or exemption due to long service, which was defined as two years. For the first time, it was now officially recognised that cooking at sea required specialised skills, even if such capabilities were obtained through only a few weeks of training plus one month's service at sea in some capacity. As a consequence of the Act, the demand for cookery schools increased, and several new ones were established in the major port cities. This essay also examines the recruitment and training of the ships' cooks, their demographic background and daily tasks. It argues that even if the 1906 Act officially acknowledged the importance of cooking, there were other factors that came to make food preparation at sea more valued. Technological innovations, the development of passenger shipping and a concern over the quality of men recruited led to an improvement of seafarers' diets and made a cook's job more demanding but also more alluring. The paper also contends that ships' cooks were first and foremost seafarers and highlights the dissimilarities between them and their shore-based counterparts who worked in hotels, public houses or private households. Because of the domestic nature of the cooks' work, they were often regarded as real seafarers. This article pays attention to the gender and ethnic characteristics influencing their status and hierarchies in an all-male workplace.