Fewer were taken ill this month than the preceding, but more in proportion died; which might partly be owing to the fleet having been more at sea, and partly to the change of climate.

Fevers were now more numerous, and also more fatal than any other disease; and we see them follow the contrary proportion to fluxes in the progress to the southward, that they did in our progress to the northward. These fevers prevailed chiefly in the Formidable and Warrior. In the former it first appeared among some men that had been pressed at New York from a privateer, some of whom were seized a few days after our arrival at Barbadoes with the yellow fever, and they were the only instances of it at this time in the fleet.

The scurvy continued to diminish, but the ulcers increased as we came into the torrid zone.

Diseases in general were so slight and so few at this time, that the whole squadron from America sent only forty-eight men to the hospital at Barbadoes from its arrival to the end of the month.

It may be proper here to give an account of some of the ships that remained on this station, while the main body of the fleet was in America.

The Prudent, when she left us, was extremely healthy, and continued so till a flux broke out in July, which was communicated by some men from a cartel, who were ill of this disease. It spread among the ship’s company, and prevailed for three months. The only deaths during the seven months that this ship was separated from the fleet were, two from flux, and one from scurvy, and only twenty-five were sent to hospitals. This is a proof how much more healthy the windward station is than that of Jamaica. The scurvy arose at one time, in a cruise of five weeks, though there was no appearance of it at another time in a cruise of six weeks. The cause of this seems to be the difference of the weather at the two periods; for it was very wet in the former, and very dry in the latter. The time in which this ship was most exposed to sickness was while she was under repair at Antigua, a situation in which hardly any ship escapes a severe visitation of sickness; yet this ship was not at all affected by it, which seemed to be owing to the uncommon pains taken by the captain to prevent the men from labouring in the sun during the hot part of the day.

The Nonsuch was five months separated from the fleet, during which time ten men died. Nine of these died of fevers, and one of the dysentery. She sailed from Jamaica for Barbadoes about the same time that the fleet sailed for North America, and was nine weeks on the passage. A fever was the prevailing disease, and the men probably inhaled the seeds of it at Jamaica, in common with most of the other ships’ companies that were there. The scurvy, which had formerly prevailed so much, appeared at this time; but it was in a very moderate degree, considering the length of the passage. None died of it, and few were so ill as to require being sent to the hospital. Had this ship gone into a colder climate, like the others, it would probably have prevailed to a greater degree. The whole number sent to the hospitals for various complaints, during the five months, was only thirteen.

The Nymph frigate was the only other ship left in the West Indies which is included in the tables. There happened only two deaths in her from June to October, both months included. One of these was from scurvy, the other from asthma. She was in that time upon two cruises, each of which lasted eight weeks. During the first the weather was dry and fine, and during the other it was wet and sultry, with the same effect upon health as in the Prudent; for in the second cruise the scurvy prevailed to a considerable degree, but not at all during the first. This disease was prevented from becoming violent or fatal, on either occasion, by the great attention of Mr. Anderson, the surgeon. He found great benefit from the essence of malt, when given early in the complaint; and some limes having been taken in a prize, while this disease was at the worst, the scorbutic men were so much recovered by the use of them, that they were all able to return to duty before the ship arrived in port.

DECEMBER.

The whole squadron remained at anchor at Barbadoes, and nothing worth notice occurred till the arrival of a reinforcement of eight ships of the line, under Sir Richard Hughes, on the 8th of December. This squadron had been detached by Lord Howe, after the relief of Gibraltar, and the action with the combined fleets on the 20th of October. It consisted of one ship of 90 guns, one of 80, three of 74, and three of 64. They sailed from England on the 9th of September, and from that time till their arrival at Barbadoes they had not been in port, except for ten days that they were at Madeira, where they were supplied with fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables, by which means the scurvy, which had begun to prevail to a considerable degree, was almost entirely eradicated, and the health of the men was surprisingly restored, for so short a time.

When they joined us, however, there was a good deal of sickness on board of them all, except the Union and Ruby. The former had been more than three years in commission, and in that time had never been sickly, and had now all the advantages of a long-established and well-regulated ship’s company. All the rest had been newly commissioned and manned when they left England. The superior health of the Ruby was owing to her having been manned with the crews of other ships, some of which had just arrived from the West Indies; whereas the others had been manned chiefly by draughts of pressed men from guardships, or by raw volunteers, of whom a great many were raised in Ireland about this time. The Bellona and Berwick having been somewhat longer in commission than the rest, were less sickly.

The following tables will shew the comparative state of health of the squadron formerly on the station with that which had newly arrived from England.

Table, shewing the Prevalence of Sickness and Mortality in the old Squadron, in December.

Table, shewing the Prevalence of Sickness and Mortality in the new Squadron, in December.

There were one hundred and eighty-nine sent to the hospital; but the proportion to the whole number of sick cannot be ascertained, as we do not know how many were on the list on the first of the month.

The increase of fevers in the old squadron was chiefly owing to their having spread in the Nonsuch; and they seemed to partake more of that kind which originates in jails and ships, than of that which is peculiar to the climate. The body of one of the men who died of this fever was inspected at the hospital, and there was found to be inflammation and even perforation of the intestines, without any previous symptom that could lead to expect such an appearance, a circumstance more likely to happen in the former sort of fever than the latter.

The increase of scurvy was owing to the numbers that were taken ill of it in the Magnificent on the passage from Halifax, from whence she sailed in the beginning of this month, and joined the fleet at Barbadoes in the end of it. There was a great deal of sickness in this ship at Halifax, and on the passage, owing to the want of such clothing as was suitable to that severe climate. One of the principal complaints was an inflammatory sore throat.

There was no change in the situation of the fleet, only that four ships of the line were sent on the 16th to cruise near Guadaloupe, and they continued at sea till the beginning of February.

The new squadron was much afflicted with the jail fever, brought from England; and it was much more prevalent, as well as malignant, on board of the Suffolk than any of the rest. During the passage it prevailed most in the Princess Amelia, not less than twenty having died of it. It subsided in this ship before she arrived in the West Indies; but on board of the Suffolk it continued to rage for some months after.

As the hospital at Barbadoes was too small to contain all the sick of this squadron, only the cases of greatest danger and the most infectious were sent on shore, and those that remained were provided with fresh vegetables and milk on board of their own ships, in the same manner as had been formerly practised with such success on similar occasions. This was continued for four weeks, during which time they all got into tolerable health, except the Suffolk.

There appeared, by the returns of the new squadron, to be a greater number under the head of “Other Complaints,” which was owing to the number of pulmonic complaints, the consequence of the influenza which prevailed in Europe, at sea, as well as on shore, in the spring and beginning of the summer of this year.

Though inflammatory complaints are rare in this climate, yet in a few of the ships there was some appearance of them; and I remarked that they occurred in those ships which were in other respects most healthy, and most free from infection. A good many of the men were seized with inflammatory sore throats in the Bellona a few days before she arrived at Barbadoes, and this was in other respects the most healthy ship next to the Union and Ruby. In the Union there was no violent acute complaint whatever, which was very singular among so great a body of men; but several rheumatisms, coughs, and catarrhs, arose in her this month, and there even occurred two pleurisies in the following month. The bowel complaints which occurred on board of this ship were also of an inflammatory nature. These distempers seemed to proceed from accidental exposure and irregularity; and is it not highly probable that these causes, instead of producing local inflammatory complaints, might have been the means of exciting bad fevers and fluxes, as in the other ships, had the men been equally predisposed to them, by living in foul air, or under the influence of infection?

The following tables will shew the comparative state of health of the two squadrons in the three first months of next year.

Table, shewing the Prevalence of Sickness and Mortality in the old Squadron in January, 1783.

Table, shewing the Prevalence of Sickness and Mortality in the new Squadron in January, 1783.

Table, shewing the Prevalence of Sickness and Mortality in the old Squadron in February.

Table, shewing the Prevalence of Sickness and Mortality in the new Squadron in February.

Table, shewing the Prevalence of Sickness and Mortality in the old Squadron, in March.

Table, shewing the Prevalence of Sickness and Mortality in the new Squadron, in March.

The main body of the fleet remained at Barbadoes till the 12th of January, when they went to cruise to windward of Martinico, in order to intercept a French squadron expected from North America. This cruise lasted four weeks; and intelligence being received of the enemy’s having taken a different route, the whole fleet bore away for St. Lucia, where it came to an anchor on the 8th of February.

In the course of the three months above mentioned, we see the two squadrons approaching to each other, in point of health, till they became pretty equal and similar; and the new squadron became even somewhat more healthy than the old.

The increase of fevers in the old squadron was owing to two causes. One was the importation of new-raised recruits brought from England by some ships that arrived in the beginning of January. These were distributed to such ships as stood most in need of men; and being very dirty and ill cloathed, were likely to harbour infection. They were evidently the cause of sickness in the Warrior and Royal Oak; for these ships were before that time healthy, and the fever began with these strangers, and spread amongst the former crew. It is remarkable that the ships that brought them from England were not affected by them.

It was caught in the Royal Oak from six men that came from England in the Anson, which men, though first put on board the Namur, communicated no fever there, having been kept separate from the rest of the men; but being sent to the Royal Oak, they were themselves first taken ill with a fever, which afterwards spread to about thirty of the other men. What was singular in this fever was, that the eyes and skin of all that were affected by it became yellow, though without any particular malignancy; for only two died on board, and one in the hospital. There was one whose skin was very yellow, yet his complaint was so slight as never to confine him to his bed.

The other cause of the increased proportion of fevers in the old squadron was, the great number of these complaints that arose in the Magnificent. This ship having been sent on a cruise about the middle of February, and the weather being rainy, squally, and uncommonly cold, for the climate, many fevers of the inflammatory kind appeared. During this cruise she made prize of a large French frigate, called the Concord, and the greater part of the prisoners being taken on board, the fever from that time assumed a different type, with new and uncommon symptoms; for, instead of being inflammatory and requiring bleeding, as before, it became more of a low, putrid kind, and was attended in most cases, if not in all, with a continual sweating; so that, instead of evacuations, the remedies that were found most effectual were the Peruvian bark, blisters, and opium. Thus we see fevers variously modified according to men’s constitutions, the state of the air, and the noxious effluvia of the strangers that intermix with them.

We find the proportion of fluxes increasing in the new squadron in January and February, as they had formerly done in most of the ships soon after their arrival from England. They were observed also to prevail principally in those ships that had formerly been most subject to fevers, and not to arise till the fever had subsided. They were found, for instance, to arise later in the Suffolk, where the fever was obstinate and malignant, than in the Princess Amelia, where the fever had been at one time general and fatal, but not so violent and lasting as in the other.

The four ships that were sent to cruise near Guadaloupe continued at sea for seven weeks; and it was owing to the prevalence of scurvy in these and in the Magnificent that the proportion of that disease was greater at this time in the old than in the new squadron.

The fleet remained at St. Lucia till the accounts of the peace arrived in the beginning of April. The service was then at an end, and I returned to England with the first division of the fleet, which sailed from St. Lucia on the 12th of April, under the command of Rear-admiral Sir Francis Drake, who was at this time in extremely bad health, and requested me to accompany him.

PART I.
BOOK III.
Of the Numbers and Mortality of different Diseases sent to Hospitals.