| DISEASES. | A | B |
|---|---|---|
| ONE IN | ||
| Fevers | 26 | 29 |
| Fluxes | 18 | 63 |
| Scurvy | 57 | 34 |
| Wounds | 627 | 60 |
| Other Complaints | 44 | 127 |
| General Proportion, including wounded | 7½ | 46 |
| General Proportion, exclusive of Wounds | 8 | 48 |
The whole number of sick on board on the first of this month, in thirty-six ships of the line and two frigates, upon which the preceding calculation is formed, was one thousand four hundred and eighteen. The whole number taken ill in the course of the month was two thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight; the number sent to the hospital was one hundred and seventy-three; and there died on board ninety-four.
The proportion of those who died this month, in relation to the whole number on board, was one in two hundred and eighty-seven.
There was a considerable increase of sickness and mortality this month in all the common diseases, and chiefly in that part of the squadron which was in port. There was less increase in the number of fevers than either of the other two epidemics; but such was their increased malignancy, that more died of them than of both the others. The number of fluxes was more than double of what it was the preceding month, and the mortality from them was also in a much greater proportion, as may be seen from the Tables.
The fevers prevailed chiefly in port, and the fluxes at sea. A good many of the latter, indeed, arose in the Alcide, though constantly in port; but this seemed to be owing to contagion conveyed by some British soldiers, who were sent on board of this ship after being retaken in one of the French men of war, several of whom were ill of this disease. But there were few fluxes in those ships at Jamaica in which the most malignant fevers appeared. There were a few in those in which the fevers arose from the air of the marshes on the watering duty; but there were none on board of the French prizes, nor in those ships in which that sort of fever was which proceeded from a similar cause, that is, filth and animal effluvia. Upon the whole, in those ships in which the fever was most malignant, there the fewest fluxes were found.
Several circumstances contributed to the increase of sickness and mortality this month.
1st. The infection, or rather the foul air, of the French prizes, in most of which a very bad fever broke out among the officers and men that were sent from the ships of our fleet to take charge of them.
The discipline and internal œconomy of the French ships of war are greatly inferior to those of the British. Their decks are never washed, and there is a great defect in every point of cleanliness and order. The free course of the air is obstructed by lumber of every kind, and by bulkheads, which are not taken down even in the time of battle; and the gratings are covered night and day with tarpaulins, even in a hot climate. There are not even scuppers opened on the lower deck as outlets to the water and filth, which necessarily accumulate there, and for which the only vent is a pipe contrived on purpose, passing from that deck along the ship’s side into the hold, which becomes thereby a common sink, inconceivably putrid and offensive. And in addition to the ordinary causes of corruption, there was one peculiar to the occasion; for the blood, the mangled limbs, and even whole bodies of men, were cast into the orlop, or hold, and lay there putrifying for some time. The common sailors among the French have a superstitious aversion to the throwing of bodies overboard immediately after they are killed, the friends of the deceased wishing to reserve their remains, in order to perform a religious ceremony over them when the hurry and danger of the day shall be over. When, therefore, the ballast, or other contents of the holds of these ships, came to be stirred, and the putrid effluvia thereby let loose, there was then a visible increase of sickness. For the first three weeks after the capture, the stench proceeding from the numbers of wounded men contributed also to taint the air.
The Ville de Paris was much more sickly than the other prizes, not only from her being larger, and thereby containing a greater mass of foul air, but by receiving the surviving part of the crew of the Santa Monica, one of our frigates, which had been cast away on the Virgin Islands, and whose men were so reduced by hardship and intemperance, that most of them were taken ill as soon as they came to breathe the unwholesome air of the French prize. To whatever cause it was owing, the fever was much more violent here than in the other prizes, and it generally carried men off on the third or fourth day; and what is remarkable, the officers were affected by it in a greater proportion than the common men. One lieutenant, and every warrant officer, except the boatswain, died of it. This was a proof that the sickliness was owing to the bad air, and not to the intemperance and irregularity so usual on board of prizes, which only the common men give into; and the probable cause of the officers being most affected is, that they were accustomed in common to a purer air, by living in the most clean and airy parts of the ship.
It is also remarkable, that the Ville de Paris was healthy when taken, and had been so ever since leaving France in March, 1781; nor had any other of the captured ships of the line been sickly for some time before, except the Ardent, when she arrived at Martinico four months before, at which time the greater part of the crew were sent to the hospital with fevers. This, as well as other facts of the same kind, tends to prove, that when men come to be much habituated to bad air, their health is not affected by it.