Cook got his crew to eat anti-scurvy ration by pretending they couldn't have it

By the 1760s the Royal Navy suspected sauerkraut could prevent scurvy, the vitamin-C deficiency disease that had killed more sailors than combat on long voyages, and loaded thousands of pounds of it aboard Cook's ships as an experimental ration.

Cook did not try to argue the sailors into eating it, and did not rely on punishment alone, though he kept flogging in reserve for outright refusal. He changed who got it first. Sauerkraut went exclusively to the officers' table, served daily with visible enjoyment, while the crew got none — restricting the supply to the group the sailors were least inclined to imitate voluntarily turned an unwanted ration into a marker of status they hadn't been offered.

Restricted the sauerkraut to officers, converting it from an imposed duty into a status privilege the crew wanted, so they requested it themselves.

Exclusion signals value, making the crew want what they couldn't have.

Officers' visible enjoyment made sauerkraut a status marker, not just food.

Crew's own request turned an order into a privilege, increasing acceptance.

Granting access after demand built compliance without resentment.

To get people to accept a mandatory benefit, restrict it to a visible, aspirational group and let them ask for it.

Cook's first circumnavigation (1768–1771) lost no men to scurvy, an outcome the Victualling Board credited substantially to the sauerkraut ration reaching sufficient consumption; the same tactic and a much larger sauerkraut supply were carried on Cook's second voyage (1772–1775), which is likewise recorded as scurvy-death-free among a crew of over 100 men across three years at sea.