DISEASES.Admitted.Died.Proportion.
NEARLY
ONE IN
Fevers9572553½
Fluxes267733½
Scurvy314417½
Other Complaints167266
Total17033954

There was on board of this fleet about two thirds of the number of men that was on board of the fleet in 1782. I cannot ascertain how many died on board of the ships in Admiral Vernon’s fleet; but the deaths at the hospital alone are somewhat more than what happened to our fleet both on board and at the hospital.

[27] I was enabled, after coming to England, to ascertain the deaths in that part of the squadron from which I happened at any time to be absent, by having leave from the Navy Board to inspect the ships’ books deposited at their office.

[28] [See Appendix to Part II].

[29] The mortality of the army in the West Indies is much greater; for it appears by the returns of the War Office, that there died in the year 1780, two thousand and thirty-six soldiers, which being calculated by the numbers on the station, and those who arrived in the convoy in March and July, the annual mortality is found to be one in four. The greatness of this mortality will appear in a still stronger light, when it is considered that those who serve in the army are the most healthy part of the community. When I was at the encampment at Coxheath in the year 1779, I was politely favoured with a sight of the returns, both of the general officers and physician, and it appeared that in an army of ten thousand and eighty-nine men, there died, from the 10th of June to the 2d of November, forty-three, exclusive of twelve who died of small pox. This being calculated, is equal to an annual mortality of one in a hundred and nine; and it was not half so much in the encampment of the former year. It appears by Mr. Simpson’s tables, that the mortality of mankind in England, from the age of twenty to forty-five, which includes the usual age of those who serve in the navy and army, is one in fifty.

[30] See [Table II].

[31] See [Table II].

[32] None are comprehended but those who were killed or wounded in battles in which the whole fleet was present, this account not including those who fell in single actions in frigates or other ships.

[33] It would appear, that, anciently, though the slaughter in battle was greater than in modern times, yet that disease was still more destructive than the sword. One of the oldest testimonies to this purpose is in the History of Alexander’s Expedition, by Arrian—τους μεν ἐν ταῖς μαχαις ἀπολωλεκασιν, ὁι δε ἐκ των τραυματων ἀπομαχοι γεγενημενοι, ὁι πλειοῦς δε νοσω ἀπολωλεσαν.—Arrian. Hist. Alex. Exped.

Lib. v. cap. 26.