Observations on the Diseases of Seamen

by Sir Gilbert Blane

The infection of fever is not always imported from without, but may be originally and spontaneously generated on board. The causes of this, as mentioned before, are want of personal cleanliness, and also confinement and crowding in close apartments.

In order to promote cleanliness, care should be taken that every man, on his first entering into the service, be provided with a proper change of linen, and that a frequent muster and review be made, in order to inspect their persons, and to examine their stock of apparel. A true seaman is in general cleanly, but the greater part of men in a ship of war require a degree of compulsion to make them so; and such is the depravity of many, that it is common enough for them to dispose of their clothes for money to purchase spirituous liquors. A muster and review, therefore, wherein men should be obliged once in the week to present themselves clean before their officers, and to produce a certain necessary quantity of clean apparel, would conduce both to sobriety and cleanliness. The exertion of authority, and the infliction of punishment, is so far from being considered by the men as a hardship, that they expect it; and it is the duty of an officer, as it is of a parent to a child, to constrain those entrusted to his care to perform what is for their good. It is common also for men to lay up their clothes in a wet and unwashed state, which in time is productive of the most offensive and unwholesome vapours; and this can be prevented only by their chests and bags being frequently inspected by their superiors.

It must be evident to any one who reflects on this subject, that a regulation of this kind is as necessary as any other part of duty; and it deserves to be made an article in the public instructions, instead of being left to the discretion of officers. This sort of discipline is particularly necessary in ships of the line, in which one cause of the greater unhealthiness is the difficulty of taking cognizance of so great a number; for, unless some regular method, as by muster, is established, there will be men who will escape notice, and skulk below, indulging in laziness and filth.

The good sense and humanity of many captains in the late war, led them to adopt certain methodical regulations for the preservation of cleanliness and order. The only public sanction given to this sort of discipline, was that of Lord Howe, who gave it in orders to those under his command, that each ship’s company should be divided into as many divisions as there were lieutenants, and that these should be divided into squads, with a midshipman appointed to each; and that the officers should be respectively responsible for the good order and discipline of the men assigned to them.

It is an excellent custom, and pretty general in the navy, to allow the men one day in the week for washing, when the weather and other circumstances will admit of it. It would be a farther improvement in the rules of the service to supply sope in the same manner as tobacco and slops are supplied, that is, to let the men have what quantity they want from the purser, who is allowed to charge it against their wages[49].

Next to want of cleanliness, the circumstances most apt to give rise to infection are, close air and crowding. A certain length of time is necessary, in order that these should have this effect, and the longer they take place, the more certainly will infection be produced, and it will be the more virulent[50].

In order to admit air freely, the ports should be kept open whenever the weather will permit this to be done. The great objection to free ventilation is the danger of exposing men to the air in cold climates. But it fortunately happens, that fire, while it is the most effectual means of counteracting the cold air, is also the best means of promoting ventilation; for wherever there is fire, there is a constant change of air taking place by means of the draught to which it gives occasion. This cannot be done with safety and convenience in all parts of the ship; but frequent fires in the lower parts of a ship will prove extremely salutary by drying up the moisture, and producing a change of air, and also in a cold climate by the warmth it produces.

The hammocks and bedding should also be aired by exposing them upon deck, especially after the ports have been long shut in consequence of bad weather. They cannot be thoroughly aired unless they are unlashed; and as this could not be conveniently done daily in men of war, it might be done from time to time by the different divisions in rotation[51]. When the men come to sleep upon them after these operations, they experience the same agreeable sensations as from a change of linen; and this must conduce to health as well as pleasure, like all other natural and moderate gratifications. It may be farther remarked in favour of cleanliness, that it is not only directly conducive to health, but is naturally connected with habits of good order, sobriety, and other virtues. The most cleanly men are always the most decent and honest, and the most slovenly and dirty are the most vicious and irregular.

A ship of war must have a much greater number of men on board than what are necessary to navigate her; for, besides the marines, a great many hands are necessary to man the great guns in time of action. For this reason, there is a greater risque of the inconveniences of overcrowding than in ships intended for commerce, and therefore much greater attention is necessary with regard to ventilation and cleanliness. There is a piece of management which tends also in some measure to obviate the necessity of crowding. This is to berth the watches alternately, by which it is meant, that one half of each watch should lie on different sides, whereby they do not sleep so close, and are not so much exposed to each other’s breath and to the heat and effluvia of each other’s bodies. This has the farther advantage of preserving the trim of the ship.

What has been said of the ship and men in general, applies still more strongly to the sick, and the berth[52] assigned to them; for there is nothing so apt to increase, and even generate, contagion, as a number of sick together, unless uncommon attention is paid to cleanliness and ventilation. This is so true, that, unless where the complaint is very catching, it is best not to separate the sick; for if they are a good set of men on board, those who are confined by sickness will be better nursed and tended by their messmates than in a sick berth. But if the state of infection renders separation necessary, the best part for the accommodation of the sick, in a ship of the line, is under the forecastle in a warm climate, and on the fore part of the main deck in a cold one. When they are under the forecastle, however, they ought to occupy only one side, as they would otherwise be disturbed by the men who must pass to and from the head, and the men in health would, in this case, be exposed also to contagion. As infection is most likely to arise among the sick, attention to cleanliness and air is doubly requisite where they lie; and it has a good effect to sprinkle hot vinegar and diffuse its steams among them once or twice a day.