This eighteenth-century glass bottle – and what it contained – represents an important step in the fight against a disease that once claimed the lives of millions: scurvy. Through notable voyages and afflicted individuals, the physical and psychological manifestations of the deadly ‘sickness of the sea’ are examined in a maritime context. What starts as a story of the often haphazard and ineffective efforts to find a cure becomes a tale of pioneering experiments and the eventual discovery of vitamin C. 

Sea Sick: Lime Juice and Scurvy is part of the Royal Museums Greenwich Spotlight series, accessible introductions to some of the most intriguing objects in the collection.