Folios 2-15: Daily sick book of the Prince George - continued: Folio 15: John Taylor;...

Folios 2-15: Daily sick book of the Prince George - continued:

Folio 15: John Taylor; prisoner, disease or hurt, scalded foot. Put on sick list, 2 May 1837. Discharged 13 May 1837 well. Folio 15: George Crutchley; prisoner, disease or hurt, scorbutus. Put on sick list, 2 May 1837. Discharged 13 May 1837 well. Folio 15: William Wild; prisoner, disease or hurt, scorbutus. Put on sick list, 4 May 1837. Discharged 13 May 1837 well. Folio 15: James Wright; prisoner, disease or hurt, pain in the bowels. Put on sick list, 5 May 1837. Discharged 5 May 1837 well. Folio 15: William Gascoigne; prisoner, disease or hurt, diarrhoea. Put on sick list, 5 May 1837. Discharged 8 May 1837 well. Folio 15: Michael Burgess; prisoner, disease or hurt, constipation. Put on sick list, 7 May 1837. Discharged 8 May 1837 well.

Folio 16: Blank.

Folios 17-18: Thomas Johnston, aged 40, Prisoner; disease or hurt, pneumonia. Put on sick list, 12 December 1836, Sheerness. Sent to Chatham Hospital, 16 December 1836. He had been a soldier for 17 years, mostly spent in hot climates, and had been affected with dyspnoea and cough for years. He was addicted to drinking when in the army. He had worn flannel next to the skin but this was taken from him in the hulk. His case appearing to be dangerous and the weather inclement so the surgeon wrote to Mr Capper requesting he be exchanged for a healthy prisoner. He was sent to Chatham Hospital and Abraham Turner received in exchange.

Folios 18-21: Mary Harp, aged 29, wife of James Harp of the 80th Regiment; disease or hurt, phthisis incipiens. Put on sick list, 6 [December] 1836. Died, 2 April 1837. A tall woman, thin and delicate in appearance, she had given birth to a female child three weeks before embarking. She had also had three children in a previous marriage, all of whom died before 6 months. On her way to Deptford to join the ship she caught cold in extremely bad weather. Her child was also very unwell and was a 'poor, little emaciated creature, with a distressing cough, and not half clothed'. Because she had married without the permission of the Commanding Officer, she could not be victualled by the Government and she had not brought any provisions of her own. The surgeon laments that Commanding Officers of regiments are not more particular in having women examined by the surgeon before they are embarked and in seeing that they are properly messed. She was supplied with flannel from the hospital stores to make petticoats for her baby and she was given six calico shifts by the other soldier's wives. The baby died on 11 February 1837 and her mother appeared to 'fret very much after her infant'. The surgeon threatened to report her husband to his Colonel for his neglect of his wife. She lingered until the 2nd of April when she died in 'the greatest state of emaciation and covered with bed sores'.

Folios 21-24: George Willet, aged 30, Prisoner; disease or hurt, scorbutus. Put on sick list, 27 January 1837. Sent to the Hospital at Sydney, 9 May 1837. He had been a farm labourer in the low part of Essex and enjoyed good health except in the winter, when through unemployment he could not get proper sustenance. He had lived very poorly for some months at a time and said he had nearly starved at times. This had led him to steal a sheep, for which crime he was being transported. He was 'remarkably thin' and indolent and slothful, and rarely attended divisions in a clean state. He remained very ill throughout the voyage and had to be supported form the half mile walk to the hospital on arrival. His case was the worst that did not prove fatal.

Folios 25-28: Joseph Augur, aged 24, Prisoner; disease or hurt, scorbutus. Put on sick list, 9 February 1837. Died, 26 March 1837. On 7 February he had found his mouth was painful, with shooting pains in his jaws, gums and teeth. The surgeon removed one of his top molars on 8 February and found it loose and very much decayed. The following day his lower lip was tumid and suffused, his breath offensive and countenance sallow. He was taken off the salt rations and given soup, barley water, sago, preserved meat and wine or wine negus, and medicine but he grew worse. On 5 March the surgeon notes, 'he is in the most airy berth in the hospital, I fear I shall not be able to keep him long there, being so offensive in smell'. Towards the end he was read to and ‘exhorted to prayer, in which he laterly fervently joined but at other times swore at his attendants'. The surgeon notes at his death that he was 'so offensive in smell that it was distressing to see a human being so loathsome'.

Folios 28-33: Edwin Hughes, aged 16, Prisoner; disease or hurt, [typhus] febris. Put on sick list, 21 February 1837. Died, 3 March 1837. Complained of languor, headache and general debility, had not felt well for three or four days. Treatment included arrowroot; a hot bath, raised to 100 degrees Fahrenheit for ten minutes while his head was kept cold; blisters; enemas; his head shaved; and a seton on his neck.

Folios 33-34: George Wells, aged [28], Ship's Boatswain; disease or hurt, typhus. Put on sick list, [2 March 1837]. Discharged, 20 March 1837. 'A remarkably athletic and muscular young man', he went to the surgeon for a dose of salts saying he had a bit of a headache. The next morning he was found lying in his bed in the forecastle and complained of pain in his back and soreness, headache, sickness at stomach, alternate heats and chills with languor and prostration of strength. The forecastle being so hot and close, he was brought on to deck and screens placed round him to keep currents of air off him.