The effects of land air, however, are not to be neglected by those who are studious of preserving the health of a ship’s company, for seamen are exposed to it in various ways while they are in harbour; and this is what we shall first treat of.
SECT. I.
Of the noxious Effects of Land Air in particular Situations.
All the diseases incident to a fleet, except the scurvy, are more apt to arise in a harbour than at sea, and particularly the violent fevers peculiar to hot climates. There are generally woods and marshes adjacent to the anchoring places in the West Indies, and the men are exposed to the bad air proceeding from thence, either in consequence of the ship’s riding to leeward of them, or of people’s going on shore on the duties of wooding and watering. Instances of this, without number, might be adduced from the accounts of voyages to all the tropical countries. Our fatal expeditions to the Bastimentos, and to Carthagena, in former wars, are striking proofs of it; and we have seen the same effects, though in a much less degree, while the fleet was at Jamaica in 1782.
I have known a hundred yards in a road make a difference in the health of a ship at anchor, by her being under the lee of marshes in one situation, and not in the other[40]. Where people at land are so situated, as not to be exposed to the air of woods and marshes, but only to the sea air, they are equally healthy as at sea. There was a remarkable instance of this on a small island, called Pidgeon Island, formerly described, where forty men were employed in making a battery, and they were there from June to December, which includes the most unhealthy time of the year, without a man dying, and with very little sickness among them, though they worked hard, lived on salt provisions, and had their habitations entirely destroyed by the hurricane. During this time near one half of the garrison of St. Lucia died, though in circumstances similar in every respect, except the air of the place, which blew from woods and marshes.
The duties of wooding and watering are so unwholesome, that negroes, if possible, should be hired to perform them. In general, however, the employing of seamen in filling water and cutting wood is unavoidable, but it should be so managed as not to allow them, on any account, to stay on shore all night; for, besides that the air is then more unwholesome, men, when asleep, are more susceptible of any harm, either from the cold or the impurity of air, than when awake and employed.
As the service necessarily requires that men should be on shore more or less, however unwholesome the air may be, means are to be used to prevent its pernicious impressions on the body. Certain internal medicines, such as bitters, aromatics, and small quantities of spirituous liquors, tend to preserve the body from its bad effects. Of the bitters, Peruvian bark is, perhaps, the best; and there is a well-affected instance of its efficacy in the account given by Mr. Robertson of a voyage in the Rainbow to the coast of Africa; and by the same means Count Bonneval and his suite escaped sickness in the camps in Hungary, while half of the army were cut off by fevers. In consequence of Mr. Robertson’s representation of the effects of bark in curing and preventing the fevers of that climate, the ships of war fitted out for the coast of Guinea have been supplied with it gratuitously, and Government would find its account in extending this bounty to all the tropical stations.
We have seen, in the former part of this work, that the fever produced by the impure air of marshes may not appear for many days after the noxious principle, whatever it is, has been imbibed; men having been sometimes seized with it more than a week after they had been at sea. It naturally occurs, therefore, that something may be done in the intermediate time to prevent the effects of this bad air; and nothing is more adviseable than to take some doses of Peruvian bark, after clearing the bowels by a purgative. Some facts, related in the first part of this work, show that an interval of ten days or a fortnight may elapse between the imbibing of the poison and its taking effect. And, in order to guard against the diseases of this climate in general, it would be more proper to take some large doses of bark once in either of these periods, than to make a constant practice of taking a little, as I have known some people do, by which they may also render their body in some measure insensible to its good effects. I knew a physician of some eminence in the West Indies, who always enjoyed uninterrupted health, and he imputed it to his taking from half an ounce to an ounce of bark every change and full of the moon, as he thought that fevers of the intermitting and remitting kind, were more apt to occur at these periods. Whether this idea be well founded or not, the practice is proper, upon the other principle that has been mentioned, and the phases of the moon will at least serve as an aid to the memory.
The spices of the country, such as capsicum and ginger, for which nature has given the inhabitants of the torrid zone an appetite, have also been found powerful in fortifying the body against the influence of noxious air. Either these, or the bark, or similar substances, of a bitter and aromatic nature, given in a glass of spirits to men going upon unwholesome duty, have been found to have a powerful effect in preventing them from catching the fevers of the climate. The practice may be thought too troublesome in the hurry of service in a great fleet; and I in general avoid mentioning any thing but what is easily practicable, and highly important to the body of seamen at large; but such a precaution may be of service at least to officers, or to a ship’s company, when service is easy, or on a small scale.
But besides the poisonous effluvia of woods and marshes, the sensible qualities of the air are also to be attended to. If I were required to fix on the circumstances most pernicious to Europeans, particularly those newly arrived in the West Indies, I would say, that they are too much bodily exercise in the sun, and sleeping in the open air; and the practices most hurtful next to these are, intemperance in drinking, and bad hours. The sickness and mortality among new comers may, in general, be imputed to some one of these causes. It is in favour of this opinion that women are not subject to the same violent fevers as the other sex, which is probably owing to their not giving into the above-mentioned irregularities.
The last direction I shall mention with regard to the preservation of health in a harbour is, that the ship should be made to ride with a spring on the cable, that the side may be turned to the wind, whereby a free ventilation will be produced, and the foul air from the head, which is the most offensive part, will not be carried all over the decks, as it must be when the ship rides head to wind.