I'm not so sure on the rest of Europe but the Dutch were big time slavers. And the food rations, even for captains and high officers, were awful for 17th and 18th century sailors although they vastly improved in the second half of the 18th and especially the 19th century. It was mostly made up of sea biscuit, and those are not biscuit in the cookie way. They're dry, they were baked months in advance and they were often rotten or partially eaten by rats. Meat was extremely rare, during windless days the crew could catch some fish if they were lucky but otherwise it would consist of seagulls (which nobody eats today because they taste awful) if they were close to land or no meat at all. Fresh fruit and vegetables were not on the menu, they couldn't be transported for months. The English later started using citrus fruit, which we found retarded and mocked them for being limeys. This did stop scurvy (lack of vitamin C) from happening so soon we copied them. The nickname stayed though. Then if they were lucky enough to find land they did not know which plants were poisonous so often sailors died from illnesses gained by eating those.  Mutinies as well were rather common, so as to stay in touch and loved or at least obeyed by his men the officers often chose to eat more or less the same rations. Though they did often get better/more alcohol. Sorry if I got carried away, I kind of like naval history