Victualling the Royal Navy with meat was a very delicate operation, both due to technical problems associated with preserving it (see Chapter 3), and because significant quantities were required. Compared to the already large quantity of beef bought in England during the War of the Austrian Succession in 1746, namely 69,357 hundredweight (one hundredweight (cwt) = 112 lbs), the Commissioners had to find almost twice this quantity in 1759, namely 123,552 hundredweight. The increase is similar when the comparison is extended to the last four years of the two wars: 235,941 cwt of beef consumed during the War of the Austrian Succession as against 432,061 cwt of beef consumed during the Seven Years War.

These figures, which only relate to English-bought beef, and do not include imports of Irish beef which also vastly increased during the Seven Years War, clearly show the unprecedented extent to which the Victualling Board's task grew in this period of hostilities.

Since the efficiency with which the Board operated cannot just rest on figures concerning quantities, the first part of this chapter will investigate fluctuations in price, and this will be followed by an examination of the extent to which the market was fragmented, as illustrated by a study of the body of contractors.