Scurvy is a medical detective story for the ages, a fascinating and often maddening examination of how James Lind (the surgeon), James Cook (the mariner), and Gilbert Blane (the gentleman) worked separately to eliminate the "scourge of the seas," the curse of all 18th-century seafaring nations. The willful ignorance of the royal medical elite, who endorsed ludicrous medical theories based on speculative research while ignoring the lifesaving properties of citrus fruit, cost tens of thousands of lives. Scurvy took a terrible toll in the Age of Sail, killing more sailors than were lost in all sea battles combined. The threat of the disease kept ships close to home and doomed those vessels that ventured too far from port. The cure for scurvy ranks among the greatest human accomplishments, yet its impact on history has been largely ignored. Stephen Bown takes us back to the earliest recorded appearance of the disease in the 16th century, to the 18th century, when the scourge ravaged all ships at sea, to the early 19th century, when the British conquered scurvy and successfully blockaded the French and expanded their empire. Evocative and enthralling, "Scurvy" is a rare mix of compelling history and classic adventure story.