Medical and surgical journal of HMS Rattlesnake for 1 January to 31 December 1854...

ADM 101/116/5B

1854

Medical and surgical journal of HMS Rattlesnake for 1 January to 31 December 1854 by Thomas B Forster, Assistant Surgeon, during which time the said ship was employed on Arctic Service.

[Note: ADM 101/116/5, 5A-5B are produced as a single document: order as ADM 101/116/5].

Folios 1-3: Copy of the daily sick book.

Folios 3-4: William Hardy, aged 30, able seaman; case number 1; disease or hurt, exhaustion (from exposure to cold and fatigue) having got lost on shore without leave. Put on sick list, 4 January 1854 in Port Clarence. Discharged 5 January 1854.

Folios 4-6: John Wilson, aged 29, gunroom steward; case number 2; disease or hurt, chronic rheumatism and general debility. Put on sick list, 13 December 1853. Invalided as unfit for service in the Arctic regions on 27 June 1854.

Folio 7: C W Stevenson, aged 22, acting Second Master; case numbers 3-4; disease or hurt, stricture, retention of urine. Put on sick list, 6 February 1854. Discharged to duty on 10 February 1854. Entered again on 20 February 1854 and discharged to duty 17 March 1854. Invalided as unfit for service in the Arctic regions on 27 June 1854.

Folio 8: R Moore, aged 41, Lieutenant; case numbers 5-7; disease or hurt, chronic bronchitis. Put on sick list, 9 February 1854. Discharged to duty on 18 February 1854. Entered again on 24 February 1854 and discharged to duty 10 March 1854. Entered 26 May 1854, discharged to duty 16 June 1854. Invalided 27 June 1854.

Folios 9-10: John Stanley, aged 26, carpenter’s mate; case number 8; disease or hurt, dysentery. Put on sick list, 3 September 1854. Discharged to duty 16 October 1854.

Folio 11: A nosological synopsis of the sick book kept during the period of the journal.

Folio 12: A list of men who during the period of the journal have received wounds or hurts which may partly or wholly disqualify them for the public service or subsequently in any way interfere with their earning a livelihood. John Rice, aged 40, Boatswain, ship pay book number, 4th list number 2, hurt –oblique inguinal hernia, date of granted pension certificate -6 February 1854. Jeremiah Connelly, aged 22, able seaman, ship pay book number, 33, hurt –oblique inguinal hernia, date of granted pension certificate -6 December 1854.

Folios 12-13: Table showing the number and types of medical cases during the covering dates of the journal nosologically arranged. Mean numerical strength of the ship’s company for the period 71?.

Folios 13-14: Surgeon’s general remarks about the general health of the ship’s company and the ship’s provisions. He also mentions that the ‘amusements which tended to keep up the spirits of the men during the monotony of the winter, were theatricals, cricket and football on the ice and shooting excursions’.

Public Record(s)

Open Document, Open Description

Topics

Pay and pensions

Disease

Navy

Armed Forces (General Administration)

Sports