Tag: Naval history
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Wasting away: The silent death of tuberculosis at sea
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia In the suffocating hold of the William Nichol, twenty-year-old Sarah Dorrett lay dying. For over a year she had been “subject to cough,” but the voyage from England to Australia had hastened her decline. Surgeon-Superintendent Peter Leonard (1801–1888) watched helplessly as she passed through “every indication of tubercular disease of the…
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Below deck and breathless: Pneumonia’s toll on seafarers
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia In the tight, damp quarters of historical tall ships on the open sea, pneumonia was a common occurrence. More than just an unfortunate illness, it was often a death sentence, preying upon the weakened and crowded bodies of sailors, soldiers, convicts, and emigrants. Although less sensational than scurvy and not as…
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Below decks, a different war
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia In October 1770, H.M. Bark Endeavour limped into the port of Batavia, capital of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Jakarta, Indonesia), after having almost foundered on the Great Barrier Reef. The hardy crew of Captain James Cook (1728–1779), although renowned for their good health throughout the three-year voyage (1768–1771), soon fell…
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No fitful rest for the ordinary sailor
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia At the Australian National Maritime Museum, our exhibits include two replica ships that played major roles in Australia’s European history. The Dutch East India Company’s Duyfken made the first recorded European landing on Australian soil in 1606. Our second replica vessel is a faithful copy of HMB Endeavour, commanded by James…
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A foul “sailor’s mouth” of a different kind
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia Johnny Depp seems to have taken his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the movie franchise Pirates of the Caribbean quite literally. His appearance at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival unleashed a minor scandal as fans’ complaints about his supposedly “rotting teeth” went viral.1 While Depp should be able to afford…