Transactions at Batavia and passage to the Cape of Good Hope
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men, one of whom was so much hurt that he continued speechless till the 24th, and then died, though the other had only one of his toes broken. We had now no less than sixteen upon the sick list, and by the 1st of January, the number was increased to forty; we had buried three, among whom was the Quarter-Master, George Lewis, who was a diligent, sober man, and the more useful, as he spoke both the Spanish and Portuguese languages. The diseases by which we suffered, were fluxes, and fevers of the putrid kind, which are always contagious, and, for that reason alone, would be more fatal on board a ship than any other. The Surgeon’s mate was very soon laid up, and those who were appointed to attend the sick, were always taken ill in a day or two after they had been upon that service. To remedy this evil, as much as it was in my power, I made a very large birth for the sick, by removing a great number of people from below to the half deck, which I hung with painted canvass, keeping it constantly clean, and directing it to be washed with vinegar, and fumigated once or twice a day. Our water was well tasted, and was kept constantly ventilated; a large piece of iron also, used for the melting of tar, and called a loggerhead, was heated red hot, and quenched in it before it was given out to be drank. The sick had also wine instead of grog, and salep or sago every morning for breakfast: two days in a week they had mutton broth, and had a fowl or two given them on the intermediate days; they had, besides, plenty of rice and sugar, and frequently malt meshed; so that perhaps people in a sickly ship had never so many refreshments before: the Surgeon also was indefatigable; yet, with all these advantages, the sickness on board gained ground. In the mean time, to aggravate our misfortune, the ship made more than three
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 511, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/514.html