The year was 1747, and aboard the HMS Salisbury, a desperate situation was unfolding. The British naval vessel had been at sea for weeks, and a familiar horror was spreading through the crew. Men who had been hearty and strong now lay in agony - their gums bleeding and swollen, teeth loosening in their jaws, skin covered with dark bruises, and wounds that refused to heal. The smell of death lingered in the cramped quarters below deck. Scurvy was claiming its victims, as it ha