Ship's doctor
Encyclopedia
A Ship's doctor or Ship's surgeon is the person responsible for the health of the people aboard a ship whilst at sea. The term "ship's doctor" or "ship's surgeon" appears often in reference to the Age of Sail British Royal Navy's "surgeons." These men, like other physicians, often did not have much medical training. These men cared for the members of the ship, dealing with wounds from battle, disease and the other medical problems which plagued the Navy throughout the world.
, the Royal Navy
carried trained medical officers aboard its warships, who usually learned their trade before coming on board ship. They were generally called surgeons. The Navy Board qualified surgeons through an examination at the Barber-Surgeons' Company and they were responsible to the Sick and Wounded Board under the Navy Board. Warranted Naval Medical officers, similar to doctors on shore, were not required to have a medical degree and were generally trained by apprenticeship. By 1814, the Royal Navy had 14 physicians, 850 surgeons, 500 assistants surgeons caring for 130,000 men on shore and at sea. They were very well paid, starting at £14 per month in 1815 for surgeons with less than 6 years of experience, up to £25 4s for 20 years of experience. They were also allowed £43 for equipment, £5 for every 100 cases of venereal disease they treated, and a personal servant. Factoring in prize money, a ship's surgeon could make well over £200 a year.
Surgeons were assisted by surgeon's mate
s, who after 1805 were called assistant surgeons.. The surgeon and his mates were assisted by boys, who were called loblolly boy
s, named after the gruel commonly served in the sick bay. A small number of doctors with a prestigious medical education were ranked as physicians; they would supervise surgeons on ships or run hospitals on shore.
In addition to caring for the sick and wounded, surgeons were responsible for regulating sanitary conditions on the ship. They fumigated the sick bay and sometimes whole decks by burning brimstone
(sulfur
), and maintained the ventilating machines that supplied fresh air to the lower decks to keep them dry.
sailed to New South Wales
as the ship's doctor on board HMS Reliance
.
's Aubrey-Maturin series.
Royal Navy
During the Age of SailAge of Sail
The Age of Sail was the period in which international trade and naval warfare were dominated by sailing ships, lasting from the 16th to the mid 19th century...
, the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
carried trained medical officers aboard its warships, who usually learned their trade before coming on board ship. They were generally called surgeons. The Navy Board qualified surgeons through an examination at the Barber-Surgeons' Company and they were responsible to the Sick and Wounded Board under the Navy Board. Warranted Naval Medical officers, similar to doctors on shore, were not required to have a medical degree and were generally trained by apprenticeship. By 1814, the Royal Navy had 14 physicians, 850 surgeons, 500 assistants surgeons caring for 130,000 men on shore and at sea. They were very well paid, starting at £14 per month in 1815 for surgeons with less than 6 years of experience, up to £25 4s for 20 years of experience. They were also allowed £43 for equipment, £5 for every 100 cases of venereal disease they treated, and a personal servant. Factoring in prize money, a ship's surgeon could make well over £200 a year.
Rank
Surgeons were ranked by the Navy Board based on their training and social status. Surgeons were wardroom warrant officers with a high status, billeted along with the other officers in the wardroom. Until the Navy's medical services were reorganized in 1806, surgeons were warranted by individual ship captains, not commissioned by the Admiralty. After 1808, surgeons, like masters were considered equivalent to commissioned officers and were 'Warrant officers of Wardroom Rank'.Surgeons were assisted by surgeon's mate
Surgeon's mate
A surgeon's mate was a rank in the Royal Navy for a medically trained assistant to the ship's surgeon. The rank was renamed assistant surgeon in 1805, and was considered equivalent to the rank of master's mate/mate...
s, who after 1805 were called assistant surgeons.. The surgeon and his mates were assisted by boys, who were called loblolly boy
Loblolly boy
A loblolly boy on a warship was a non-professional assistant to the ship's surgeon. In Tobias Smollett's 1748 novel The Adventures of Roderick Random, the first to describe Royal Navy life in detail, the protagonist Random was made a loblolly boy upon entering the Royal Navy, and ultimately...
s, named after the gruel commonly served in the sick bay. A small number of doctors with a prestigious medical education were ranked as physicians; they would supervise surgeons on ships or run hospitals on shore.
Duties
The surgeon's duties included responsibility for his mates and loblolly boys, visiting patients at least twice a day, and keeping accurate records on each patient admitted to his care. The surgeon would take morning sick call at the mainmast, assisted by his mates, as well as tending to injured sailors during the day. During sea battles, the surgeon worked in the cockpit, a space permanently partitioned off near a hatchway down which the wounded could be carried for treatment. The deck was strewn with sand prior to battle to prevent the surgeon from slipping in the blood that accumulated.In addition to caring for the sick and wounded, surgeons were responsible for regulating sanitary conditions on the ship. They fumigated the sick bay and sometimes whole decks by burning brimstone
Brimstone
Brimstone is an alternative name for sulfur. It may also refer to:* Fire and brimstone, an idiomatic expression of signs of God's wrath in the Bible* Brimstone , a DC Comics character...
(sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
), and maintained the ventilating machines that supplied fresh air to the lower decks to keep them dry.
Historical
George BassGeorge Bass
George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...
sailed to New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
as the ship's doctor on board HMS Reliance
HMS Reliance (1793)
HMS Reliance was a discovery vessel of the Royal Navy. She became famous as one of the ships with the early explorations of the Australian coast and other the southern Pacific islands....
.
Fictional
Stephen Maturin - one of the main characters of Patrick O'BrianPatrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
's Aubrey-Maturin series.
External links
- Kaji Sritharan, Maritime medicine, April 15, 2006, BMJBMJBMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
Careers advice - Ship's Doctor, a P&O website
- Ship's doctor's work far from fiction, Peggy Peck, August 3, 2005