Medical and surgical journal of Her Majesty?s surveying Sloop Pandora for 1 January...

Medical and surgical journal of Her Majesty’s surveying Sloop Pandora for 1 January to 31 December 1852 by Mr John Jolliffe, Surgeon, during which time the said sloop was employed on the Australian Station.

Folios 2 – 3: Daily Sick List. Folios 4 – 17: Meteorological Register kept on board HM Surveying vessel Pandora on the Australian Station, from 1 January 1852 to 31 December 1852.

Folios 18 – 20: Henry Lampey, aged 22, Carpenter’s Crew; disease or hurt, dysenteria. Put on sick list, 14 August 1852, at Sydney, New South Wales. Discharged, 31 August 1852. ‘Of a spare habit of body and pale and sickly in appearance’, he had been frequently sick with colic, diarrhoea and derangement of the stomach in the last 18 months. Discharged well but much reduced in strength and substance.

Folios 21 – 22: John Boulding, aged 19, 1st Class Boy; disease or hurt, bronchitis. Put on sick list, 8 May 1852, at Auckland, New Zealand. Discharged, 20 May 1852. ‘Of a plethoric habit of body’, he had previously been healthy. While doing duty on shore he sat down in a draught of cool air after running some way and becoming hot and perspiring. The next day he felt sore throat and uneasiness and pain in breathing. His symptoms grew worse and he was sent back to the ship.

Folios 22 – 24: George Glode, aged 28, Royal Marine; disease or hurt, pneumonia. Put on sick list, 7 March 1852, at Kiapara [Kaipara], New Zealand. Discharged, 20 April 1852. The ship was driven aground in a gale and all hands had to sleep on shore and got thoroughly wet, sleeping under canvas in their wet clothes. The ship floated free the next day. Glode had only just been discharged from the sick list for syphilis and had been wet and without rest for 36 hours. He was discharged for light duty being very weak and emaciated.

Folios 25 – 26: R H Jewell, aged 34, Captain of the Fore top; disease or hurt, remittant fever. Put on sick list, 23 April 1852, in the River Wairoa, New Zealand. Discharged, 10 May 1852. Two other similar cases occurred at the same time, the only ones since the ship had been commissioned. All three were ushered in with inflammatory symptoms. Followed by prostration of strength and other typhoid symptoms.

Folios 27 – 28: George Walters, aged 38, Paymaster and Purser’s Steward; disease or hurt, enteritis. Put on sick list, 25 October 1852, in Mercury Bay, New Zealand. Discharged, 10 November 1852. ‘Of a stout, plethoric habit of body with a tendency to corpulency and leading from his employment a very sedentary life’. He had suffered inflammation of the bowels and congestion of the liver about a year earlier but had been in good health since.

Folio 28: A nosological synopsis of the sick book kept during the period of this journal, in conformity with the present quarterly nosological returns.

Folio 28: A nosological synopsis of the sick book kept during the period of this journal, in conformity with the 30th article of the Surgeon’s Instructions.

Folio 30: A list of men who have received wounds or hurts, during the period of the journal. Peter Foley, aged 35, Able Seaman, no certificate granted. On 29 January 1852 he was struck on the head by a handspike while removing an anchor, both lips divided through to the teeth. H A Johns, aged 24, Carpenter’s Crew, no certificate granted. On 8 October 1852, a deep incised wound to the sole of the right foot from stepping on a broken bottle.

Folios 30 – 33: Surgeon’s general remarks. From 6 January to 16 February, the ship travelled from Auckland to Kaipara, surveying rivers and islands on the way. They encountered a chief who had lived with 30 others on one of the King Islands for 6 years, hiding from enemies. They had subsisted on potatoes, ‘fern wort’, sea birds and fish. From 16 February to 24 April they surveyed the Kaipara and Wairoa rivers. The Wairoa and its surroundings are described, including a settlement established for collecting Kauri spars for the Admiralty. The kauri pine is described, its growing scarcity and cost. Kauri resin is found in great abundance beneath the soil but it is not known how it got there. The difficulty of navigating the estuary of the Kaipara and Wairoa rivers is discussed. On 6 March the ship was driven aground in a gale, having been at anchor, and the crew were exposed to drenching rain ashore for 36 hours. Only a few cases of catarrh and one of pneumonia resulted, evidence of the healthiness of the crew and the climate. On 28 April they arrived back at Auckland, where they remained for most of the next 10 weeks, apart from six days searching for a distressed merchant vessel in the Bay of Islands. On 17 July they sailed for Sydney, arriving on 10 August, having met with adverse winds and unusually stormy weather. Three boats were lost from the davits and the upper and lower decks were constantly wet. At Sydney a dozen of the crew deserted because of the gold mania and the high wages of £12 a month offered to seamen. On 31 August they sailed again for Wellington, and then Auckland, New Zealand, arriving on 28 September 1852. On 9 October they sailed for the Bay of Plenty and remained there surveying until 15 December 1852, when they returned to Auckland. At Mercury Bay they met two Maori men who claimed to have met Captain Cook on his visit there in 1769. One of the officers visited the hot springs and the lakes nearby and these are described in some detail, as are the people living near the springs. The weather during the year was finer than usual but the climate in New Zealand is generally healthy. There were few cases on the sick list and the only severe ones were the pneumonia, dysentery, bronchitis remittant fever and enteritis. The remittant fever was of a low typhoid character and many of the natives and missionaries’ children were also suffering similar symptoms. The complement of the vessel was 63 but the mean ratio for the year was 61 because of the number of men who had deserted. No pension certificates or trusses were issued. Signed John Jolliffe, Surgeon.

Topics

Clothing

Labour

Trade and commerce

Pay and pensions

Australia and Pacific

Race relations

Children

Disease

Navy

Armed Forces (General Administration)