Observations on the Diseases of Seamen. Blane Gilbert

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      This account is abstracted from the returns of twenty-nine ships of the line, and two frigates.

      The diseases and deaths under the head of “Other Complaints,” is much more numerous in this month than usual, which is chiefly owing to the preceding actions with the enemy, and to the prevalence of the small pox. Of the deaths under this head, seventeen were in consequence of wounds, six from small pox, one from a mortification10 in the shoulder, and one from consumption.

      None of the epidemics affected one part of the squadron more than another, except that the ships last from England had a less proportion of the flux than the rest; and the few cases of this disease that were in these ships arose after their arrival in the climate. The Conqueror and Fame, which were the two most sickly ships, had no complaints but fevers.

      The fevers had now begun to take on some of the characteristic symptoms of the climate; the chief of which is a greater abundance of bile. In the Repulse, two men had the yellow colour of the skin, which is so peculiar to the fevers of this climate.

      The crew of the Anson caught an infectious fever from a guardship in England; and when the Prothée sailed, there was a fever of the same kind on board; but from the change of climate, the symptoms became milder, and the disease disappeared in both these ships in the course of this month.

      The small pox prevailed more at this time in the fleet than I have ever known it to do either before or since, and that both in the squadron from England and in that from North America. There were six cases in the Formidable, all of which did well, though two were of the confluent kind.

      Though there needs hardly any additional proof of the extraordinary efficacy of lemon juice in curing the scurvy, yet it may be of service to impress so useful a truth on the mind by mentioning such striking proofs of it as occurred from time to time. The Arrogant spoke with a Portuguese vessel near Madeira, from which some of this fruit was procured, and the only scorbutic man on board happening to have some of the most desperate symptoms, such as putrid gums, contracted hams, the calves of the leg hard and livid, and frequent faintings, a fair opportunity offered for trying its virtues. The man was allowed two of them daily, and was perfectly well in sixteen days, during all which time the ship was at sea, so that it was impossible to ascribe the cure to any other cause.

      The fleet remained at St. Lucia from the 1st till the 18th of March, completing the water, provisions and stores, landing the sick at the hospital, and also watching the motions of the enemy, who arrived about the same time at Martinico from the siege of St. Christopher’s. During this time we were reinforced with the Duke, of 90 guns, and the Warrior and Valiant, of 74 guns, from England. On the 18th the whole fleet, except the Invincible, which was detached with a convoy to Jamaica, sailed on a cruise to windward of Martinico, in quest of a French convoy expected from Europe; which having eluded us, and got into their own harbour, the whole fleet returned to St. Lucia on the 30th of March, excepting the Prudent, which was sent to Barbadoes.

      We found at St. Lucia the Magnificent, of 74, and the Agamemnon, of 64 guns, which were the last reinforcement of this campaign, making the British fleet on this station amount to forty ships of the line, a much greater force than was ever before employed on foreign service. They were all copper bottomed.

      The weather continued fine all this month, yet there was some increase of sickness, owing chiefly to the hardship the men underwent in wooding and watering. In Choc Bay, where the fleet watered, there was at this time a higher surf than was ever remembered, which made the operation of watering (at all times noxious in this climate) uncommonly toilsome and dangerous. It was, indeed, next to impracticable; for many longboats were staved on the beach, by which several men had their limbs broken, and some lost their lives, by being crushed or drowned; but the necessity of the service admitted of no relaxation or delay. There was no increase of wind to account for this surf, so that it was owing either to something in the currents, or to some subterraneous cause; and there had been felt at Barbadoes and St. Lucia, about this time, a slight shock of an earthquake11, to which many imputed this extraordinary surf. In other respects, there were fewer causes of sickness than usually occur to a fleet in port in this part of the world; for the air of the road is remarkably pure, and there were fewer temptations and opportunities of intemperance than at the other islands.

      The monthly returns of the surgeons were very full and complete; but as it would be tedious to insert at length those of every particular ship, and as the number of ships fluctuated in different months, I shall do no more hereafter than set down the general results from calculation, so as to shew the proportional prevalence of disease and mortality in each month.

      Transcriber’s Keys:

      A Proportion of those taken ill in the Course of this Month.

      B Proportion of those who died, in relation to the Numbers of the Sick.

      The first column is formed by dividing the whole number on board by the number taken ill. The second column is formed by first adding the number ill on board on the first of the month to the number taken ill during the month, subtracting from this sum the number sent to the hospital, and dividing the remainder by the number of deaths.

      The number on the sick list of twenty-eight ships of the line, and two frigates, on the first of this month, was eight hundred and forty-five; the number put on the lists in the course of the month was one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four; and the number sent to the hospital in the same time was three hundred and seventy-three; and there died on board thirty-one.

      The total mortality this month, in relation to the whole number of men on board, was one in six hundred and seven.

      It almost always happens, that ships of war are more or less short of complement, and allowance is made for this in all the calculations; for having had an opportunity of inspecting the weekly accounts delivered to the Admiral, it was always in my power to be informed how many there were short of the legal complement of men in each ship.

      It appears, from comparing the Tables of this month with those of the preceding, that there had been a great increase of fevers and fluxes, particularly of the latter. The fevers prevailed chiefly in the ships lately from England, especially the Fame and Conqueror. In the Duke there were a great number ill of fevers; but this ship not having arrived from England till after the first of the month, is not included in the calculation. The fluxes were most prevalent in the ships we found on the station, particularly the Canada, Resolution, and Nymph frigate. The scurvy had increased very little, but prevailed most in the ships we found here. The only ships of the new squadron that had this disease to a considerable degree, were the Conqueror and Nonsuch. The former had indeed a good many ill of it; but the return having been made in an imperfect manner, this ship is not included in the calculation.

      But the ships that were by far СКАЧАТЬ