The fleet arrived at St. Lucia the next day after it sailed from Barbadoes, and remained there till the 18th of June. The whole of this month was showery at this island, though it is not accounted the common rainy season; for more rain falls here than at any of the other islands at that time in our possession, being the most mountainous, as well as the most woody and uncultivated, of them all. These rains produced some increase of sickness, but very little, when compared to what took place at the same time in the army on shore, and in the ships refitting at the Carenage. There died about this time from fifty to fifty-five men every week in an army of not quite two thousand men.
The difference in point of health between the Carenage (which, as the word implies, is the place where ships go to be hove down, or otherwise repaired) and Gros-Islet Bay, where the main body of the fleet lay, affords a striking proof of the effects of situation. The Carenage is a land-locked creek, with a marsh adjacent to it, whereas the other is a road open to the fine air of the sea, the only land sheltering it to windward being a small, dry island, consisting of one hill, of half a league in circumference, and some of the cliffs of the main island of St. Lucia.
The increase of sickness here was farther prevented by the men having little labour to perform on shore, nor any haunts to encourage intemperance, a vice which the Admiral endeavoured still more effectually to prevent, by ordering all the rum stills in the neighbourhood to be destroyed.
It may be proper here to introduce a general account of the seasons and temperature of the West Indies, as there will be frequent occasion hereafter to make allusions to them. With regard to the heat, though the range of the temperature is very small, in comparison of what it is in Europe, the variations follow the same seasons; for July and August are the hottest months, and December and January the coolest. This we would naturally expect, as our plantations lie all in the northern hemisphere, between the 10th and 20th degree of N. latitude, and therefore bear the same relation as Europe does to the sun’s annual course. The hurricanes happen in the same season in which the periodical rains chiefly fall, that is, in the months of August, September, and October, which are called the hurricane months, and this is also the most unhealthy season. The time of the year which is most apt to be rainy, next to this, is from the middle of May to the middle or end of June, but this is not invariable. The lowest I ever observed the thermometer was at 69°; it stands very commonly at 72° at sunrise, in the cool season, rising to 78° or 79° in the middle of the day. In the hot season, the common range is from 76° to 83°. It seldom exceeds this in the shade at sea; and the greatest height at which I ever observed it in the shade at land was 87°. This is far short of the extremes of heat which they experience at certain seasons on the continent of North America, even very far north. In Pennsylvania and New York, the thermometer, I have been assured, rises frequently above 90°. It does so commonly enough in the East Indies; but I believe it never was known to rise so high in the West Indies, so that the heat, comparatively speaking, may be called moderate and steady.
The comparative mortality in June is small, owing to the fleet’s having been cleared of all the bad cases at Barbadoes before it sailed from thence. Though the proportion of sick in July is less, that of the mortality is greater, (see Table II.) which seems to be owing to this circumstance, that the cases taken ill during the rainy weather of June did not terminate fatally till the succeeding month.
In the course of this summer the fleet was reinforced by several ships of the line from England. The Triumph arrived in May, without any sick on board; but a flux prevailed a few weeks afterwards, without any evident cause, except the influence of the climate, and the exposure and fatigues during the operations of May. The disease, however, soon subsided, and the ship being kept in excellent order and discipline, continued healthy during all the remaining time in which she served with us.
In June, the Russel, of 74 guns, arrived from North America, and the Shrewsbury, a ship of the same rate, from England. The former left England in 1778, but was obliged to put back by stress of weather and sickness, and upon arriving afterwards on the coast of America, was extremely afflicted both with fevers and the scurvy. These were removed to the hospital, and this ship had become free of all sickness before sailing for the West Indies, except that a few of the men were seized with fevers, and she remained healthy after arriving there, not suffering from any regular attack of sickness, such as affected the ships in general from Europe. The Shrewsbury left England healthy, but was soon attacked with a fever and flux, which continued to prevail till the end of the year.
The fever in these two ships resembled rather the low ship fever of Europe than the bilious one peculiar to the climate. This last, indeed, seldom or never prevails to a great degree on board of a ship, unless it has been caught on the watering duty, or from some other exposure to the air of the land. I have, however, known a few instances of bilious fevers in men who never had been on shore from the time they left England; I have even known men of the same description attacked with intermittent fevers, which are supposed to depend still more on land air. This is perhaps owing either to the quantity of water in a great ship, part of which is always more or less putrid, or to the fresh-cut wood of the country taken on board for fuel, the steam of all which must resemble a good deal the effluvia of woods and marshes, which are supposed to give rise to intermittents.
In the beginning of July our fleet was reinforced with the Culloden, Egmont, and Centaur, all of 74 guns. In the end of the same month we were joined by the Alcide and Torbay, of the same rate, and also directly from England. The fleet was at this time at St. Christopher’s, having arrived there on the 22d of the month, with a large convoy from England, which had joined it at St. Lucia, under protection of the Thunderer and Berwick, two ships of the line, which being bound to Jamaica, I do not reckon as belonging to our fleet.
Shewing the proportional Sickness and Mortality, in relation to the whole Numbers on board, for fourteen Months.
Transcriber’s keys: A Proportion of Sick and Wounded on board on the First of the Month. B Proportion of Sick and Wounded sent to the Hospital in the Course of the Month. C Proportion of Deaths on board in the Course of the Month.
CHAP. II
Account of the Health of the Fleet from August, 1780, till December following. – The Fleet divided – The principal Squadron goes to North America – Fluctuation between Fevers and Fluxes – The Alcide and Torbay the most sickly Ships – Health mended by the Climate and Diet in North America – Hurricane in the West Indies – Sufferings in consequence of it – Fevers the chief Disease.
The hurricane months approaching, the season for active operations in the West Indies was now over. The whole force of the enemy, consisting of thirty-fix French and Spanish ships of the line, having gone to St. Domingo in the end of July, ten sail of the line were detached after them from our station, for the protection of Jamaica. The Admiral sailed for North America in August, with eleven ships of the line, leaving six for the protection of the islands.
There was little alteration in the general state of the sick during the voyage to America, and indeed we found no diminution of the West-India heat, which at this season is at the greatest height, until we came to the 33° of N. latitude.
The only material alteration in point of health was in the Alcide and Torbay, which had arrived from England with a few men ill of fevers; but in the course of this voyage these two ships became as unhealthy as any that ever came under my observation. There was a greater number of sick on board of them than all the fleet besides, and it increased to such a degree, that upon their arrival at New York, which was in the middle of September, after a passage of three weeks, near one half of their men were unfit for duty. In the Alcide it was a fever that raged; in the Torbay it was a dysentery; and the unusual degree of sickness and mortality which appears in the Table for the month of September, was owing to the very sickly state of these two ships.
Shewing the Number of Fevers and Fluxes on board on the First of each Month, and the Number sent to the Hospital in the Course of the Month.
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