Table, shewing the proportional Sickness and Mortality in March.
Transcriber’s Keys:
A Proportion of those taken ill in the Course of this Month.
B Proportion of those who died, in relation to the Numbers of the Sick.
| DISEASES. | A | B |
|---|---|---|
| ONE IN | ||
| Fevers | 20 | 64 |
| Fluxes | 35 | 71 |
| Scurvy | 126 | 0 |
| Other Complaints | 33 | 108 |
| General Proportion | 9 | 76 |
The first column is formed by dividing the whole number on board by the number taken ill. The second column is formed by first adding the number ill on board on the first of the month to the number taken ill during the month, subtracting from this sum the number sent to the hospital, and dividing the remainder by the number of deaths.
The number on the sick list of twenty-eight ships of the line, and two frigates, on the first of this month, was eight hundred and forty-five; the number put on the lists in the course of the month was one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four; and the number sent to the hospital in the same time was three hundred and seventy-three; and there died on board thirty-one.
The total mortality this month, in relation to the whole number of men on board, was one in six hundred and seven.
It almost always happens, that ships of war are more or less short of complement, and allowance is made for this in all the calculations; for having had an opportunity of inspecting the weekly accounts delivered to the Admiral, it was always in my power to be informed how many there were short of the legal complement of men in each ship.
It appears, from comparing the Tables of this month with those of the preceding, that there had been a great increase of fevers and fluxes, particularly of the latter. The fevers prevailed chiefly in the ships lately from England, especially the Fame and Conqueror. In the Duke there were a great number ill of fevers; but this ship not having arrived from England till after the first of the month, is not included in the calculation. The fluxes were most prevalent in the ships we found on the station, particularly the Canada, Resolution, and Nymph frigate. The scurvy had increased very little, but prevailed most in the ships we found here. The only ships of the new squadron that had this disease to a considerable degree, were the Conqueror and Nonsuch. The former had indeed a good many ill of it; but the return having been made in an imperfect manner, this ship is not included in the calculation.
But the ships that were by far the most healthy were those that had been the longest from England, the Ajax, Russel, Montague, Royal Oak, and Prudent. There had been formerly a great mortality in all these ships; and it would appear that this uncommon degree of health was owing, in some measure at least, to this circumstance, that the most weakly had been swept off by the different distempers to which they were exposed; so that only the more hardy and robust had survived.
Under the head of “Other Complaints,” a much smaller number were put on the list, and still fewer died, in this than the preceding month. This difference is owing to the number that died of wounds last month.