The story of how the maritime nations suffered for centuries from the terrible disease of scurvy, and the slow process of cracking the problem. Literally millions of seafarers perished from the disease, and it held up the progress of exploration, limited the military effectiveness of naval forces, and decimated skilful ship's crews. The problem was that the maritime nations had the shipbuilding technology to build ships that could stay at sea for months and years, but the men could not stay healthy on a diet of salt-pork, biscuits and beer.