Observations on the Diseases of Seamen. Blane Gilbert
taken ill.
The fevers, which were of the greatest malignity at this time, affected the officers more than the common men. Only one captain died at Jamaica while the fleet was there, and it was of this fever. We lost five lieutenants, of whom four died of it; and this was the disease which carried off the three surgeons. But foul air was not the only cause that produced this fever among the officers, several of whom brought it on by hard drinking, or fatiguing themselves by riding or walking in the heat of the sun. It cannot be too much inculcated to those who visit tropical countries, that exercise in the sun, and intemperance, are most pernicious and fatal practices, and that it is in general by the one or the other that the better sort of people, particularly those newly arrived from Europe, shorten their lives.
Before leaving Jamaica, I sent to England a Supplement to the Memorial given in, last year20.
CHAP. V
Account of the Health of the Fleet, from its leaving Jamaica on the 17th of July, till its Departure from New York on the 25th of October. – What Diseases most prevalent on the Passage to America – Rapid Increase of the Scurvy during the last Week of the Passage – Method of supplying the Sick at New York – The Fleet uncommonly healthy in October – State of the Weather and of Health in America in Summer and Autumn, 1782.
The season of the hurricanes approaching, and all the convoys destined for England this year being dispatched, the main body of the fleet, consisting of twenty-four ships of the line, left Port Royal on the 17th of July, under the command of Admiral Pigot, in order to proceed to the coast of America. A great convoy for England had been sent off a few days before, protected by the Ville de Paris and six other ships of the line, which we overtook and passed at the west end of the island. When we arrived off the Havannah, a large squadron of the enemy was seen there in readiness to sail, which induced the Admiral to wait in sight of it for the convoy, which did not come up till ten days after. Owing to this delay, and our meeting with baffling winds on the rest of the passage, we did not arrive at New York till the 7th of September. We found there the Invincible and Warrior, which sailed after us, but arrived before us, by having taken the windward passage.
Transcriber’s Keys:
A Proportion of those taken ill in the Course of the Month.
B Proportion of Deaths, in relation to the Numbers of the Sick.
The mortality this month, in relation to the whole numbers on board, was one in a hundred and thirty.
There were only one in thirty-eight of the sick sent to the hospitals.
The fevers arose chiefly during the first two weeks after leaving Jamaica, which renders it probable that the seeds of them were brought from thence. Had they been owing to the heat simply, they would have been as apt to arise in some subsequent part of the passage; for the tropical heats at this season of the year extend to the 30th degree of latitude, which we did not cross till the 22d of August, that is, near five weeks after leaving Jamaica. The only ships in which the fever could be imputed to infection or foul air were the Barfleur, Alcide, and the Aimable frigate. The first had received, as recruits, at Jamaica, men who had been confined for some time before in a French jail, and a fever of a bad kind spread on board of her soon after. The Aimable was a prize from the French; and the sickness was here so evidently owing to foul air, that, whenever the contents of the hold were stirred, so as to let loose the putrid effluvia, there was then an evident increase of sickness. The fever in the Alcide was of a peculiar slow kind, to be described hereafter, and seemed to be a continuation of the same infection which had so long existed in that ship.
The Duke, which had hitherto been by far the most subject to fevers of any ship in the fleet, became more and more free from them even in the most early part of this passage, and might be said to be entirely so at the time she arrived in America. The fever had been so very prevalent in this ship since leaving England, that there was hardly a man who had escaped it. Could this have any effect in making them less liable to catch it a second time?
In the course of this passage the dysenteries came to prevail over the fevers, as we have found to be commonly the case at sea. It appears by the former table, compared with the next, that the mortality in fevers was much the same, and that in the dysentery it was greater than while the fleet was at Jamaica. This does not argue, however, that the diseases were equally malignant, but was owing to the want of an hospital, and of those comforts of diet which the sick enjoyed on board while in harbour. This last was particularly felt in the dysenteries, in the cure of which more depends upon diet than in most other diseases. In all the calculations of mortality on board of ships, if any have been sent to the hospital, they are to be deducted from the number; and these make a greater difference in the mortality on board than their numbers simply would indicate; for only the worst cases, and those therefore who were most likely to die, used to be sent to the hospital. But as the fleet was at sea during the whole of this month, no allowance of this kind is to be made.
Transcriber’s Keys:
A Proportion of those taken ill in the Course of the Month.
B Proportion of Deaths, in relation to the Numbers of the Sick.
The mortality this month, in relation to the whole numbers on board, was one in one hundred and sixty-nine.
The scurvy began to appear very soon upon this passage; for by the end of August, at which time the fleet had only been six weeks at sea, and that in a warm climate, and in dry weather, it had made considerable progress. It first appeared and prevailed most in the Prince George and Royal Oak, though they had been ten weeks at Jamaica. This was the first sickness with which the latter had been affected since arriving in the West Indies; and there was no perceivable peculiarity in either of them to account for their being subject to it more early, or more violently, than the rest of the fleet. If the disease is contagious, as has been suspected, there might be a few men on board of them, who, being uncommonly prone to the disease, would be soon affected, and communicate it, or at least hasten the symptoms in those who might be less predisposed to it. But this is only conjecture. Before the end of the voyage, the whole fleet was more or less afflicted with it, though it had been only seven weeks and three days at sea; but the men had received so few refreshments while in port, that their constitutions were prepared to fall into this disease. The Barfleur, Alfred, and Princessa, were most affected with it next to the two ships mentioned above.
The seventeen ships which arrived from England in February and March were much less affected with it than the rest of the fleet, which was, no doubt, owing to the wine, melasses, and sour krout, with which they were so amply supplied. Though these articles were all expended before leaving Jamaica, yet the good effects of them on the constitutions of the men were visible in the course of this passage.
The America was the most free from it of all the ships of the old squadron; and this was owing to the great humanity and attention of the captain21, who, as soon as any of the men were taken ill, allowed them wine and other refreshments from his private store. There was another proof in the Conqueror of the great importance of attending to this disease in its earliest stage. Mr. Lucas, the surgeon of this ship, by watching the first beginnings of it, by a proper regulation of diet, and the administration of the essence of malt and juice of limes, not only prevented the progress of the disease, but proved, that, with great attention, it may even be cured at sea. It is of the utmost consequence in this disease to put the men on the sick list on the very first appearance of the symptoms, so that they may early have the advantage of proper treatment and regimen. It is only at this period of it that the effects of essence of malt are sensible; but we have seen that the juice of certain fruits will cure it in more advanced stages.
There is a very important remark suggested by comparing the two preceding tables with that which follows. It appears that in the month of September a much greater number was taken ill
Captain Samuel Thompson.