If, notwithstanding all Precautions, Men upon Out-posts should be benumbed with Cold, or Frost bit, as soon as they are brought into Camp or Quarters, their Extremities ought to be rubbed with Snow, or put into cold Water[122]; and afterwards well dried, and wrapt up in Blankets; and warm mild Liquors given them to drink, and afterwards Cordials; and, after some Time, they may be brought near the Fire, or put to Bed. Dr. Lind[123] mentions one Caution to be used when Men are found in this Condition; which is, not to give them immediately strong spirituous Liquors, for that those often prove instantaneously fatal; but to put them to Bed, and give warm Water Gruel, or some other mild diluting Liquor, to drink; after which, he says, a Glass of Spirits will prove less dangerous and more beneficial.
When Men are quartered or cantonned in Towns or Villages, whose Situation is low and damp, and where fresh Meat and Vegetables are scarce in Winter, and the Scurvy frequent among the lower Class of People; Commanding Officers, at the Approach of Winter, ought to use their Endeavours to provide a Store of Potatoes, Onions, Cabbages, sour Crout; of pickled Cabbages, and other pickled Vegetables; of Apples and other Fruits, preserved in different Forms, to be laid up, and sold out to the Men at a cheap Rate during the Winter. They should contract, if possible, with Butchers to furnish the Men with fresh Meat[124], and endeavour to procure good small Beer, or Cyder or Wine in the Wine or Cyder Countries; or Spirits to be mixed with Water, and a small Proportion of Cream of Tartar or Vinegar; or some other wholesome fermented Liquor for their Drink[125]; and to put their Men into as dry comfortable Quarters as possible.
In Times of War, when Men are sent upon Expeditions into warm Climates, great Care ought to be taken to embark such only as are in good Health; particular Regard ought to be paid to those who are picked up in the Streets, or have been taken out of the Savoy, or other Jails. All dirty Rags from off such People ought to be thrown away or burnt; and the Men, after being well washed, and new cloathed, ought to be kept for a Fortnight or three Weeks in some Garrison Town, or with their Regiments, in open airy Places, that it may be ascertained that they have no infectious Disorder before they be put aboard the Transports.
All Ships allotted for Transports ought to be well aired and purified, and every Thing fitted up properly, before the Men are embarked. They ought to be provided with Ventilators, or Wind Sails, to make a free Circulation of Air through the Vessel[126]; and they ought never to be crowded; but full Room allowed for each Man, in Proportion to the Length of the Voyage[127].
In military Expeditions, Soldiers are put upon Ships Allowance; which, Dr. Lind very justly observes, ought not, in Voyages to the warm Climates, be made up so much of salted Beef and salted Pork (which always tend to the Putrescent), as is the common Practice of the Navy; but that a greater Share of Biscuit, Flour, Oatmeal, Goarts, Rice, and other Stores of that Kind, ought to be laid in; and a greater Proportion of them, and a Less of the salted Meat, distributed among the Men: And he is certainly in the Right, when he says, that a full Animal Diet, and tenacious Malt Liquors, are well adapted to the Constitution of our own, and of other northern Climates; and that Sailors who visit the Greenland Seas, and are remarkable for a voracious Appetite, and a strong Digestion of hard salted Meat, and the coarsest Fare, when sent to the West Indies, soon become sensible of a Decay of Appetite, and find a full gross salted Diet pernicious to Health. “Instinct (he says) has taught the Natives between the Tropics to live chiefly on a Vegetable Diet, of Grains, Roots, and subacid Fruits, with Plenty of diluting Liquors[128].”
A Store of Vegetables, such as Mustard Seed, Garlick, Onions, Potatoes, pickled Cabbages and other pickled Vegetables, sour Crout and other Things of that Kind, which can be purchased at a cheap Rate, and preserved for some Months, ought to be laid in; which may be mixed with the Soops prepared for the Men, or given them to eat along with their salted Provisions.
A Quantity of Beer, Cyder, or Wine, ought to be put aboard, and a certain Allowance distributed to each Man daily. When, for Want of these, Men are reduced to an Allowance of Spirits, they ought to be mixed with seven or eight Times the Quantity of Water, or made into Punch, by the Mixture of Water and Molosses, and the Juice of Lemons, before they are given to the Men; and, if Lemons cannot be got, Cream of Tartar, or Vinegar, ought to supply their Place; and it ought to be a Duty of one of the military Officers on board to see the Punch made, and distributed among the Men daily.
It would be right, on all Expeditions into warm Climates, to send some Sloops of War, or other armed Vessels, before the grand Fleet, to take up a Quantity of Wine that will keep, either at the Madeira, or other Wine Countries; and afterwards to go to any of our Settlements that are nearest the Place of Destination, and to take in a Quantity of Limes, Lemons, Oranges, and other Fruits, and Vegetables which will keep for some little Time; and of Spirits, live Stock, and other Provisions proper for the Army; and then to meet the Fleet at the general Rendezvous. When once a Landing is made good, these Vessels, after having unloaded their Cargoes, may either be employed on other Services, or kept constantly going and coming for whatever Stores or Provisions are wanted for the Army or Fleet.