"Da Gama recorded: “Many of our men fell ill here, their feet and hands swelling, and their gums growing over their teeth so that they could not eat.”2 As they sailed farther up the east coast of Africa, they met local traders, who traded them fresh oranges. Within 6 days of eating the oranges, da Gama's crew recovered fully and he noted, “It pleased God in his mercy that … all our sick recovered their health for the air of the place is very good.”2

From India, da Gama returned across the Arabian Sea. Within 12 weeks of sailing, his crew was again afflicted and weakened by scurvy. Da Gama commented: “We addressed vows and petitions to the Saints … it pleased God in his mercy to send us a wind which in the course of six days, carried us within sight of land … at this we rejoiced as … we hoped to recover our health there as we had done before … the Captain-Major sent a man on shore to bring off a supply of oranges which were much desired by our sick.”2Da Gama lost more than half of his crew by the end of his journey. His crew sustained scurvy when they had been at sea for 10 weeks or more. They recognized oranges to be an effective antiscorbutic by the second outbreak. The experience of da Gama in dealing with scurvy did not become common knowledge, and over the next several centuries, scurvy remained as the scourge of the sea explorers.
Infantile Scurvy: A Historical Perspective
Kumaravel Rajakumar, MD
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/108/4/e76.full

In 1540, French explorer Jacques Cartier learned of a remedy for scurvy from a Native American native named Dom Agaya in lower Canada, which was a tea made from the leaves of the northern white Ceder (Thuja occidentalis) also known as Arbor vitae or "tree of life". The first English reference to the disease occurred in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1565.
In 1617, Woodall wrote The Surgeon's Mate, which described scurvy and listed lemon juice as the cure. Woodall persuaded the East India Company to provide lemon juice for its sailors.

In 1747, Lind, an officer and naval surgeon in the British Royal Navy, established the fact that oranges and lemons were effective in curing scurvy.
Scurvy
Author: Lynne Goebel, MD; Chief Editor: George T Griffing, MD
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/125350-overview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_occidentalis

Two physicians who played an enormous role in decreasing the mortality from the disease were John Woodall and James Lind. In 1617, Woodall wrote The Surgeon's Mate, which described scurvy and listed lemon juice as the cure. Woodall persuaded the East India Company to provide lemon juice for its sailors."

In 1747, Lind, an officer and naval surgeon in the British Royal Navy, established the fact that oranges and lemons were effective in curing scurvy. He divided patients into 6 groups of 2 and gave each group a different remedy. Only the group given oranges and lemons recovered. It took Lind 41 years to convince the British Royal Navy to implement his recommendation; thereafter, the incidence of scurvy among the British sailors sharply declined.

During the 19th century, people who experienced the Great Potato Famine, armies of the Crimean War and American Civil War, Arctic explorers, and California Gold Rush communities were prominent victims of "land" scurvy

Francis Glisson is credited with the earliest description of infantile scurvy. In 1650, Glisson observed the co-occurrence of scurvy in infants with rickets. After Glisson's description, infantile scurvy was not reported for another 200 years.

Voyages of Jacques Cartier
By Jacques Cartier, Henry Percival Biggar, Ramsay Cook - Page xxxvi Page xxxvii