Containing an Account of the Health of the Fleet from March, 1780, till July following.——Five Ships of the Line arrive at Barbadoes from Europe in March—Join a large Squadron then on that Station—Their Health compared—Engagements with the Enemy in April and May producing Hardship and Exposure, but little Increase of Sickness—Method of collecting the Returns of the Surgeons—Influence of Situation upon Health in Harbours—Course of the Seasons, and Temperature of the West Indies—The Fleet reinforced in June and July with Ships from England and North America—Their Health.

During the war, which broke out with France in 1778, and with Spain in 1779, the West Indies was the principal seat of naval operations, and much greater fleets were then employed in that quarter of the world than in any former period.

Though there had been a great squadron on the Caribbee station during the greater part of 1779, no physician was appointed to it till the beginning of the next year, when I arrived there in that character with my friend and protector, Lord Rodney.

There were then sixteen ships of the line on that station, most of which had been upwards of twelve months in the climate; and they were reinforced at this time by five more from England.

The squadron which we found on the station was then extremely healthy, and in several of the ships there was not a man unfit for duty. We were told, however, that they had all been subject to sickness, particularly to the dysentery, soon after their arrival in that climate. Of the five with which the fleet was at this time reinforced, all but the Intrepid left England at Christmas, making part of the squadron which effected the first relief of Gibraltar, under the command of Lord Rodney, who continued his route to the West Indies, in order to take the command on the Windward station, where he arrived on the 16th of March. The Intrepid had arrived with a convoy the day before. These five ships were all pretty healthy on their passage, except the Sandwich and Terrible, in which a fever prevailed; but they had almost recovered from it before they arrived in the West Indies. A dysentery broke out in April in all the ships newly arrived, and it prevailed to the greatest degree in those which had been most affected with fevers in Europe, namely, in the Terrible and Intrepid. The Sandwich and Ajax were also affected, though in a less degree; but the Montagu, though this was her first voyage, and though she was just off the stocks, had been the most healthy of any of them from the time of leaving England, and continued so during all this campaign. I have not observed that new ships are more unhealthy than others, unless they are built of ill-seasoned timber; and they have this advantage, that there is no previous infection adhering to them. What may have contributed also to the superior health of the Montagu, was the precaution that was taken when this ship was first manned and fitted out, of stripping and washing the men that were brought from the guardship to complete the crew.

The Intrepid, while in England, had been afflicted with fevers to a most uncommon degree; for, being one of the fleet in the Channel cruise the year before, almost the whole crew either died at sea, or were sent to the hospital upon arriving at Portsmouth. This ship, after refitting, was pretty healthy for a little time; but, probably from the operation of the old adhering infection, she became extremely sickly immediately after joining our fleet, and sent two hundred men to the hospital the first two months after arriving in the West Indies. Most of these were ill of the dysentery.

The Pegasus frigate arrived with the ships from Gibraltar, and we have here an instance of the superior health commonly enjoyed by this class of ships over ships of the line; for when she was dispatched to England in the end of April, there had not been a man taken ill from the time of her arrival on the station.

This season was a very active one in the operations of war; for, besides the general battle of the 17th of April, there were two partial actions in May; and, from the 15th of the former month till the 20th of the latter, our fleet was constantly in the face of the enemy’s, except for a few days that it was refitting at St. Lucia after the first battle. This was extremely harrassing to the men, not only from the incessant labour necessary in the evolutions of the fleet, but by their being constantly at quarters with the ships clear for action; for, in that situation, they had nothing to sleep upon but the bare decks, the hammocks and bedding being removed from between decks, where they might embarrass the men in fighting, and they become useful on the quarter deck, by serving to barricade the ship, which is done by placing them in ranges on the gunwale, to cover the men from the enemy’s grape and small shot. These hardships were productive of some sickness, though much less than might have been expected; for the weather is at all times warm, and it was at this time extremely moderate and dry. Besides we shall see in other instances as well as this, that, in the ardour inspired by the presence of an enemy, men are less exhausted by their exertions than on ordinary and less interesting occasions.

Almost the whole of the sick and wounded, to the number of 750, were put on shore at Barbadoes, where all the fleet, except three ships1, arrived on the 22d of May.

I now began to keep regular and methodical accounts of the sickness and mortality in the fleet, though in a manner more imperfect and less accurate than was afterwards adopted. I was embarked on board of the Sandwich, where the Commander in Chief had his flag, so that I was always present with the main body of the fleet, whether at sea or in port.

A form of monthly returns2 was adopted, which, as well as other points of method, was afterwards improved.

After collecting the returns for each month, I made abstracts of them in tables; in one column of which the complement of each ship is set down, in order to form calculations of the comparative prevalence and mortality of different diseases at different times. One of the abstracts is here inserted, (Table I.) by way of specimen, and the proportional result of them for fourteen months is set down in another table, (Table II.)

Though this last exhibits a tolerably just view, yet it may be remarked, as one imperfection, that there was no distinction made at this time in my returns between the killed and those who died of disease; so that in the month of May, which stands first, the proportion is too high; for there were sixty-four killed, and two hundred wounded, in the two actions of that month.

The main body of the fleet lay at Barbadoes till the 6th of June, and the men had recruited extremely by their stay there; for vegetables, fruit, and other refreshments, can be procured at an easier rate, and in much greater plenty, at this island, than any other on the station.

The fleet arrived at St. Lucia the next day after it sailed from Barbadoes, and remained there till the 18th of June. The whole of this month was showery at this island, though it is not accounted the common rainy season; for more rain falls here than at any of the other islands at that time in our possession, being the most mountainous, as well as the most woody and uncultivated, of them all. These rains produced some increase of sickness, but very little, when compared to what took place at the same time in the army on shore, and in the ships refitting at the Carenage. There died about this time from fifty to fifty-five men every week in an army of not quite two thousand men.

The difference in point of health between the Carenage (which, as the word implies, is the place where ships go to be hove down, or otherwise repaired) and Gros-Islet Bay, where the main body of the fleet lay, affords a striking proof of the effects of situation. The Carenage is a land-locked creek, with a marsh adjacent to it, whereas the other is a road open to the fine air of the sea, the only land sheltering it to windward being a small, dry island, consisting of one hill, of half a league in circumference, and some of the cliffs of the main island of St. Lucia.

The increase of sickness here was farther prevented by the men having little labour to perform on shore, nor any haunts to encourage intemperance, a vice which the Admiral endeavoured still more effectually to prevent, by ordering all the rum stills in the neighbourhood to be destroyed.

It may be proper here to introduce a general account of the seasons and temperature of the West Indies, as there will be frequent occasion hereafter to make allusions to them. With regard to the heat, though the range of the temperature is very small, in comparison of what it is in Europe, the variations follow the same seasons; for July and August are the hottest months, and December and January the coolest. This we would naturally expect, as our plantations lie all in the northern hemisphere, between the 10th and 20th degree of N. latitude, and therefore bear the same relation as Europe does to the sun’s annual course. The hurricanes happen in the same season in which the periodical rains chiefly fall, that is, in the months of August, September, and October, which are called the hurricane months, and this is also the most unhealthy season. The time of the year which is most apt to be rainy, next to this, is from the middle of May to the middle or end of June, but this is not invariable. The lowest I ever observed the thermometer was at 69°; it stands very commonly at 72° at sunrise, in the cool season, rising to 78° or 79° in the middle of the day. In the hot season, the common range is from 76° to 83°. It seldom exceeds this in the shade at sea; and the greatest height at which I ever observed it in the shade at land was 87°. This is far short of the extremes of heat which they experience at certain seasons on the continent of North America, even very far north. In Pennsylvania and New York, the thermometer, I have been assured, rises frequently above 90°. It does so commonly enough in the East Indies; but I believe it never was known to rise so high in the West Indies, so that the heat, comparatively speaking, may be called moderate and steady.

The comparative mortality in June is small, owing to the fleet’s having been cleared of all the bad cases at Barbadoes before it sailed from thence. Though the proportion of sick in July is less, that of the mortality is greater, (see Table II.) which seems to be owing to this circumstance, that the cases taken ill during the rainy weather of June did not terminate fatally till the succeeding month.

In the course of this summer the fleet was reinforced by several ships of the line from England. The Triumph arrived in May, without any sick on board; but a flux prevailed a few weeks afterwards, without any evident cause, except the influence of the climate, and the exposure and fatigues during the operations of May. The disease, however, soon subsided, and the ship being kept in excellent order and discipline, continued healthy during all the remaining time in which she served with us.

In June, the Russel, of 74 guns, arrived from North America, and the Shrewsbury, a ship of the same rate, from England. The former left England in 1778, but was obliged to put back by stress of weather and sickness, and upon arriving afterwards on the coast of America, was extremely afflicted both with fevers and the scurvy. These were removed to the hospital, and this ship had become free of all sickness before sailing for the West Indies, except that a few of the men were seized with fevers, and she remained healthy after arriving there, not suffering from any regular attack of sickness, such as affected the ships in general from Europe. The Shrewsbury left England healthy, but was soon attacked with a fever and flux, which continued to prevail till the end of the year.

The fever in these two ships resembled rather the low ship fever of Europe than the bilious one peculiar to the climate. This last, indeed, seldom or never prevails to a great degree on board of a ship, unless it has been caught on the watering duty, or from some other exposure to the air of the land. I have, however, known a few instances of bilious fevers in men who never had been on shore from the time they left England; I have even known men of the same description attacked with intermittent fevers, which are supposed to depend still more on land air. This is perhaps owing either to the quantity of water in a great ship, part of which is always more or less putrid, or to the fresh-cut wood of the country taken on board for fuel, the steam of all which must resemble a good deal the effluvia of woods and marshes, which are supposed to give rise to intermittents.

In the beginning of July our fleet was reinforced with the Culloden, Egmont, and Centaur, all of 74 guns. In the end of the same month we were joined by the Alcide and Torbay, of the same rate, and also directly from England. The fleet was at this time at St. Christopher’s, having arrived there on the 22d of the month, with a large convoy from England, which had joined it at St. Lucia, under protection of the Thunderer and Berwick, two ships of the line, which being bound to Jamaica, I do not reckon as belonging to our fleet.