Tag: Richard de Grijs
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Of toerags and spice boxes: Sanitation at sea
Richard De GrijsSydney, Australia At 5 P.M. it blew rather fresh, but so steady that the Top Gallant sails were not taken in. The Purser went into the weather round House about this time, which is fixed in the Galley, on the Ships Bows. While he was on the Seat, a mass of wind was…
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Ship fever: A malignant disease of a most dangerous kind?
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia During the Age of Sail, “road,” “workhouse,” “hospital,” “army,” “camp,” “emigrant,” “jail”/“gaol,” and “ship” were routine noun adjuncts pertaining to the deadly fevers frequently occurring in overcrowded spaces in cold weather. Although “fever” diagnoses were common, most such instances in ships’ surgeons’ journals related to typhus or typhoid fevers—until 1869, they…
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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…
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William Dawes: Deep flaws and sparks of brilliance
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia Most Sydneysiders will have heard of William Dawes (1762–1836), although they may not know exactly who he was. Dawes Point, the promontory supporting the southern pillars of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, is named after him, as are Dawes Creek and Dawes Ridge in the nearby Blue Mountains National Park. William Dawes…
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The forgotten menace of long naval patrols
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia Heavy manual labor was part and parcel of the daily routine on eighteenth-century sailing ships. Although simple mechanical aids such as capstans (winches), blocks, and pulleys reduced some of the burden, shipboard life relied largely on enormous physical strain and exertion. Lifting heavy casks, or tubs of seawater for washing the…
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The grim horrors of the orlop deck
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia The often awe-inspiring works of art immortalizing historic naval battles usually belie the harsh reality of war. Amidst clouds of billowing, black smoke and the deafening roar of cannon fire, sailors faced the real danger of life-threatening injuries. Injured sailors were carried, dragged, or stretchered to the surgeon’s “cockpit,” a dimly…
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“Filth so foul and stench so offensive as not to be imagined”
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia … during the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth-rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water,…
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Of vermicide and vermifuge: A history of intestinal parasites at sea
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia When the UK’s National Archives launched the Surgeons at Sea project,1 many media outlets focused on one outlandish claim from the curators’ summary of highlights. In June 1825, twelve-year-old Ellen McCarthy was on board the Elizabeth from Cork (Ireland) to Quebec (Canada) when the ship’s surgeon reported that she Complained yesterday…
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The ships’ surgeons’ toxic toolkit
Richard de Grijs Sydney, Australia Mercury ointment applied to a patient’s legs. Paracelsus, Wundartzeney die Frantzosen genannt, I; Frankfurt, 1562. Out of copyright. During the “Age of Sail,” months-long voyages gave rise to unique health concerns.1,2 Moreover, ships’ surgeons frequently encountered diseases brought upon uninhibited sailors through their own “adventurous” behavior. Following their arrival at…
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Temporary insanity in tropical waters
Richard de Grijs Sydney, Australia Frontispiece to the second edition (1639) of John Woodall’s The Surgion’s Mate, promising to outline “[t]he cures of the Scurvey [sic] … and of the Calenture.” Line engraving by George Glover. Wellcome Collection. So, by a calenture misled, The mariner with rapture sees, On the smooth ocean’s azure bed,…