Stephen, who has just returned to the Surprise after having spent sometime marooned without supplies or fresh water, explains to Jack how he survived:
‘…Tell me Stephen, what did you drink on that infernal rock?’
‘Boiled shit.’ Stephen was chaste in his speech, rarely an oath, never an obscene word, never any bawdy: his reply astonished Jack, who looked quickly at the tablecloth. Perhaps it was a learned term he had misunderstood. ‘Boiled shit,’ he said again. Jack smiled in a worldly fashion, but he felt the blush rising. ‘Yes. there was one single pool of rainwater left in a hollow. The birds defecated in it, copiously. Not with set intent - the whole rock is normally deep in their droppings - but enough to foul it to the pitch of nausea. the next day was hotter, if possible, and with the reverberation the liquid rose to an extraordinary temperature. I drank it, however, until it ceased to be a liquid at all; then I turned to blood…’
H.M.S. Surpise, Patrick O’Brian, p. 129 (Published by Harper Perennial, 2007)
I don’t know whether to be more impressed by Stephens determined survival instinct or by the fact that Jack appears to make use of exactly the same method I applied to surviving university seminars.
One of my favourite things in the world is that the lovely cookbook, Lobscouse and Spotted Dog (Which it is a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin novels, includes a recipe for said boiled shit. The authors admit they did not try it but inserted it for completeness’ sake. Also, they cooked laboratory rats in order to try some of the rat based dishes, and they are apparently delicious.
