Observations on the Diseases of Seamen. Blane Gilbert
fleet was tolerably healthy during this month, the season being dry and cool; there was, however, a small increase of sickness at this time, and it was owing to a descent made on St. Vincent’s in December. The soldiers, (of whom there was still a regiment on board of the fleet) the marines, and some of the seamen, had been on shore for one night only; but many of them having lain on the ground, some having been intoxicated, or having eaten to excess of sugar-cane and fruit, caught fevers and fluxes, which increased the proportion of diseases and deaths the following months, as appears by the Table.
I have exhibited, in another Table, a view of the sickness and mortality of this fleet for the five succeeding months. (Table IV.) This account, as well as most of those that are to follow, is confined to three diseases, that may be called the sea epidemics. These are, fever, flux, and scurvy.
The whole fleet met at Barbadoes on the 13th of January, and no service was undertaken till the accounts of the Dutch war arrived on the 30th of that month. In consequence of this intelligence, the greater part of the ships of war went against St. Eustatius, which was taken on the 3d of February.
Ten days after this a squadron of seventeen ships of the line was sent to cruise to windward of Martinico, with a view to intercept a French squadron which was then said to be on its passage from Europe. The cruise was there continued for six weeks; after which small divisions of the ships were sent to water and refit, by turns, at St. Lucia, and were relieved by the ships left for the protection of that island.
Soon after this, the whole squadron came to leeward of Martinico; and though the former intelligence had proved false, the greater part of our fleet still kept the sea, in order to block up the enemy in Fort-Royal Bay. This they continued to do till the 29th of April, when a French fleet of twenty-two ships of the line, from Europe, joined by four from Martinico, forced their way into their own port, pushing to leeward our fleet, consisting only of eighteen ships of the line; so that the greater part of them did not get into port till they came to an anchor at Barbadoes on the 23d of May.
It was in this season of cruising, and keeping the sea, that the fleet contracted such a degree of scurvy as had never before been known in the West Indies. This disease is not so apt to arise in a hot climate as in a cold one; and the prevalence of it on this occasion was owing to the men having been for a great length of time upon sea victualling; for one part of the fleet had not had a fresh meal from the time of leaving America, that is, for six months; and that part of it which came last from England had been in the same circumstances for seven months; nor had any of them been in a place capable of supplying vegetable refreshments from the time they left Barbadoes in the end of January. But though no fresh meat or vegetables could be procured at St. Lucia or St. Eustatius, yet the scurvy did not make such progress in the ships that lay at anchor there, as in those that were at sea; and it appears that the time in which it prevailed most was, while the greatest number of ships was at sea, that is, in the month of March. It appears, indeed, by the Table, that there was a greater number ill of this complaint on the 1st of May than on the 1st of April; but it appears also, that more were sent to the hospital in March than in April, and very near half of the May list must have been taken ill in March4. The difference of being in port and at sea consists chiefly, 1st, In there being plenty of water while in port, so that it can be used freely, not only to drink, but to wash the clothes; and we know that cleanliness tends greatly to ward off the scurvy. 2dly, Though no fresh meat nor vegetables could be procured at those ports, sugar, which may be considered as a very antiscorbutic article of diet, could always be procured at a very cheap rate, and the seamen, when in port, used to exchange their salt provisions for it. 3dly, There is at sea a dismal uniformity of life, favourable to indolence and sadness, and therefore tending to hasten the progress and aggravate the symptoms of the scurvy; whereas the change of scene and variety of objects, when in port, tend to cheer and recreate the mind, and thereby to avert this disease.
The squadron that came from England under Lord Hood, suffered, upon the whole, much less from acute diseases, during the first months of their service in this climate, than the ships that arrived with Lord Rodney, which was probably owing, in part at least, to the former having arrived at the driest and coolest season of the year. The Barfleur, however, had a large proportion of all the three prevailing diseases; and large ships are in general more subject to them than those of a smaller rate. But of all the ships in the fleet, the Alfred had the greatest proportion of the three sea epidemics. The Prince William suffered more than any other ship in the fleet from the flux, and the Princessa from the scurvy. In some instances, reasons can be assigned for the prevalence of particular diseases in particular ships, such as accidental infection, or the manner in which they have been victualled, manned, or disciplined; but in many cases the cause is so subtile or obscure as to elude our inquiry.
The most healthy of the new squadron, during this campaign, were the Belliqueux and Panther; the former was a new ship, and came from England with a very irregular and ill-disciplined crew. Soon after arriving in the climate, she was threatened with a dysentery, which, though it spread a good deal, did not prove severe nor mortal; but being left at St. Eustatius on this account, while the rest of the fleet was cruising, she soon became very healthy, and remained so. This is the second instance we have had occasion to remark of a new ship being healthy.
The Panther preserved her health by being on small separate cruises, and frequently in port, not being attached to the main squadron. The Sandwich was the only other ship not engaged in the long cruise.
Of the ships lately from England, that were employed in this cruise, the Gibraltar seems to have been the least sickly. This ship left England healthy; but having received a draft of dirty men when upon the eve of sailing, a fever of the infectious kind broke out on the passage, so that she arrived in the West Indies in a sickly state. This fever disappeared very soon after; and it is proved by this, as well as other facts, that a warm climate, so far from tending to generate, or even to foster the infection of fever, tends rather to extinguish it. The Gibraltar had been put under excellent discipline by her former commander, while in the Channel service; and this being afterwards kept up, the men were always clean and regular. This was the Spanish Admiral’s ship, taken by the fleet under the command of Lord Rodney off Cape St. Vincent’s, in January 1780. She was then called the Phœnix, and was of a singular excellence both with respect to materials and construction. Whether the cedar, of which a great part of her timbers consisted, contributed to the healthiness, by its balsamic effluvia, I will not pretend to determine.
The Invincible was also uncommonly healthy during this cruise, which may likewise be ascribed to good discipline, and to her having been more than three years in commission before sailing from England, whereby the men were brought into order, and accustomed to each other and to a sea life. This ship was almost singular in having no acute diseases for several months after arriving from Europe; but at length paid the tribute to the climate in May and June, as may be seen in the Table.
From the account of the three frigates at the bottom of the list in the Table, it appears how much more healthy they are than ships of the line. The total complements of the three is exactly equal to that of one seventy-four-gun ship; but their whole sickness and mortality is less than that of any one ship of the line of that class, although the Triton was uncommonly sickly for a frigate.
There seem to be several causes for the superior degree of health usually enjoyed by this smaller class of ships. There is less chance of mixtures of men in frigates, as their complement is smaller, and it is more easy for the captain and officers to keep an eye over a few men than a great number; for, in a great ship, there are generally men, who, concealing themselves in the most retired parts, no one takes cognizance of them, and they destroy themselves, and infect others, by their laziness and filth. In the next place, there is a greater proportion of volunteers and real seamen in frigates, and more landmen and pressed men in ships of the line, the former being more in request, on account of the greater chance of prize money. Lastly, a small ship is more easily ventilated, and the mass of foul air issuing from the hold, from the victuals, water, and other stores, as well as the effluvia exhaling from the men’s bodies, is less than in a large ship.
Many other and more minute remarks might be made on different ships in this season of hard service; but to do this would be tedious, and the inspection of the Tables may suggest