| Judging from the information I've managed to find so far
about the voyage of the Eden, it was an eventful trip. The
"exiles" (prisoners who had served a probationary
period in England and had been pardoned on condition of deportation)
were forbidden to disembark in Port Phillip and were sent on to Geelong
where many of them were subsequently conveyed to Portland. 37 exiles
were also landed in Hobart, including 2 forwarded from Geelong. The
first surgeon, Robert McCrea died during the voyage and the
following extract from the report of the then appointed surgeon,
Robert Beith, makes fascinating reading
"The
Eden a vessel of 500 tons with a complement of 42 men and officers was
taken up by the Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty for the purpose of
conveying prisoners to Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land and Port Phillip,
New South Wales The commissioned fitting at Deptford on the 19th of August
1848 and on the 8th of September, dropt down the river to Woolwich where
the Guard over Convicts was embarked on the following day. It consisted of
50 rank and file from the 65th and 99th Regiments with a Captain from the
former and a Subaltern from the latter. Five women and six children also
accompanied the detachments Mr. Robert McCrea was appointed as Surgeon and
Superintendent and Mr. L. C. Symons as Religious Instructor. On the 13th
of the same month 7 'Exiles' were embarked from the Millbank Penitentiary
and on the 15th and 16th, 193 were sent on board from Pentonville Prison.
At 2 P. M. on the 19th of September the Eden left Woolwich and at 10 P.M.
on the 23rd anchored off Cowes. Here were embarked 37 boys from Parkhurst
Prison on the 26th and 27th: making a total number of 237 Prisoners on
board. As to the general state of health of the Guard and Exiles on
embarkation I am unable to speak positively, but was given to understand
that 25 of the latter were subject, for a few days after coming aboard, to
fits resembling epilepsy; one man having had as many as a dozen, and the
others every number below that. They were produced most probably by the
noise, bustle and confusion attendant on first embarkation acting as a
sudden shock on nervous systems weakened and impaired by a long course of
solitary prison discipline. These fits proved merely transient as they had
all ceased before I joined the Ship and I may as well premise, that I did
not observe during the voyage the general health of those men who were
affected to suffer in consequence.
On
the 5th of October the Eden sailed from Spithead, and arrived at Madeira
on the morning of the 21st. She put in here in consequence of the death of
the Surgeon-Superintendent which took place at 9 O'Clock on the previous
evening and appeared to have been caused by the following extraordinary
circumstance On the morning of the 14th of October Mr. McCrea made some
incisions in the leg of a patient who was suffering from an attack of Phagomania
Erysipelas and in doing so received some poisonous matter into his system
through a small wound which he had in the point of his right thumb That
same evening pain and swelling of the hand and arms set in attended with
considerable constitutional excitement which (without tracing all the
intermediate effects) proceeded rapidly towards a fatal termination. I saw
the body for the first time about 20 hours after death, decomposition had
then commenced but the small puncture wound was still perceptible on the
point of his right thumb and I could distinctly trace lines of diseased
lymphatic from the root of it, along the inside of forearm and arm towards
the axilla, in which there was an abscess of enormous dimensions the
fullness caused by this extended forwards as far as the sternum, downwards
to the false ribs upwards over the clavicle and backwards under the
latissimus dorsi muscle. It was stated that delirium only set in about two
hours before death so that the patient must have been aware of the
collection of matter, but it does not appear that he either attempted to
open it himself or asked any one else to do so.
On
the afternoon of the 22nd of October I joined the Eden from H. M. Troop
Ship Athol, and, having caused supplies of fresh beef and water to be
procured, sailed at 5 P.M. on the following day for Hobart Town where we
arrived on the afternoon of the 21st of January 1849. Here 33 Prisoners of
the class called 'Ticket of Leave Men' were Landed, and 1 Exile was sent
to the hospital suffering from phagomania erysipelas. The Guard also
disembarked at this place. On the evening of the 29th following we left
Hobart Town and anchored at Geelong, Port Phillip, N.S.W. on the 4th of
February where the remainder of the Prisoners were landed - all with the
exception of the man who was sent to sick Quarters in a high state of
health. This last remark will also apply to the Guard and Exiles who were
Landed at Hobart Town. Not one case of Scurvy occurred during the voyage
so that I had no opportunity of testing the relative merits of Lime Juice,
citric acid and Nitrate of Potass, in the cure of that disease. I may as
well, however, mention in this place that Lime Juice was issued almost
every day to the Guard and Exiles, the former had an ounce of it with the
same quantity of sugar mixed with their grog the latter had the same
quantities mixed with about 0.5 a gill of wine and a gill of water. This
made a most agreeable and refreshing drink given after dinner which if not
a preventative of Scurvy was at all events most efficacious in the
prevention of crimes and misdemeanors as the stoppage of this beverage in
the case of offenders was regarded as one of the most severe punishments
that could be inflicted.
Several
cases of Nyctalopia reoccurred among the Parkhurst Boys towards the end of
the voyage. One principle reason for the disease being confined to these
boys, was, in probability, their being sole occupants of the bow messes,
which were the darkest in the Ship, and in passing from these to the upper
deck their eyes became suddenly exposed to the reflected glare from the
sun, or to the bright and burning rays of a tropical sun, by which the
pupiIs became, to all appearance permanently contracted: while on the
other hand in going below to a state of almost total darkness the pupils
assumed an amaurotic appearance - becoming widely dilated. The transition
into these opposite states occurring daily and almost hourly for a
lengthened period, most undoubtedly produced that inevitable condition of
the retina in which the functional disarrangement depended. That the moon
could have had no influence on its production can be easily be proved by
the fact, that they never were exposed to her rays, having been locked up
every night at sunset. The cure was simple and consisted in keeping those
affected on deck all day, and excusing their attendance at school, where
the eyes were strained and weakened by attempting to read and write in the
dull and flickering light of the Prison deck.
By
a list which accompanies these returns it will be seen that vaccination
was tried on 23 persons without success. Most of these were either aware
of having been vaccinated at a former period of their lives, or bore the
marks of it on their persons, but expressed a willingness to be
vaccinated. One, a Child of 6 months old, had never been vaccinated and
although the operation was repeated at different times during the voyage,
it was never successful. Either the vaccine virus was bad or what was more
probable, was kept in check by a deranged state of the child's health,
attendant on a long continued cutaneous eruption.
Thirteen
of the most important cases that occurred during the voyage are detailed
in the foregoing part of this Journal - Case No 1 Is there treated of
under the head of Phthisis. The patient was moribund when I joined the
Ship, and died a few hours afterwards. The immediate cause of death was
doubtless an acute pulmonic or plemitic attack: but from the statements of
the Hospital attendants, I had every reason to believe that phthisis was
the remote cause. I have stated in the account given of the case that I
was unable to make a post mortem examination for the reasons there
specified. Case No 2 Is also one of Phthisis. The patient is stated in a
document from one of the Medical Officers of Pentonville Prison to have
suffered from Scurvy before embarkation. He was in the last stage of
consumption when I joined. Case No 3 is one of Phlegmonous Eryslpelas and
was ill when I joined the Ship. The patient embarked from prison with an
ulcer on the outer Malleolus of left foot. Soon after erysipelas set in
and was treated in the early stage by my predecessor Mr. McCrea. This was
the first case of that baneful disease which recurred on board. Case No.
4. Is treated of under the head of diarrhoea and Phthisis. In a list from
the Medical Officer of the prison the patient is stated to have suffered
from the former of these diseases for a considerable time prior to and on
embarkation. He was much reduced by that disease when I first saw him, but
after a time seemed to rally and I thought was recovering, when another
and a more dangerous disease burst forth, of the existence of which there
had been no suspicion - Toneson? Consumption and going on hand in hand
together, under this combined influence he gradually sank. Nos. 5, 6, 10,
11 - are cases of Erysipelas in three of which the hand and face were
affected and in one the leg. This last recurred as a Secondary affection -
attacking an incised wound on the knee - and was sent to the Colonial
Hospital at Hobart Town. The others were all primary affections and were
in my opinion caused by a course kind of marine soap (sent from
Pentonville Prison for the purpose of cleansing clothes, but used by these
men for washing their faces in salt water) the acid alkaline ingredients
of which irritating the skin of the face and causing erysipelatous
inflammation. No. 7. was a most perplexing case of gastritis.
The
patient who was one of the Sergeants of the Guard, had been sparring in
sportive jest with a celebrated pugilist, from whom he received a violent
blow in the epigastric region, but of this I was not aware until he was
recovering I certainly, for the first few days of his illness, could not
account for the very urgent symptoms which showed themselves, namely,
intense abdominal pain great prostration, as indicated by diminished heat
of skin, a reduction in the force and frequency of the pulse and a
depressed expression of countenance; and the presence of decomposed blood
in the ejects from an irritable stomach. The state of collapse continued
for three days, such, without any reduction of the abdominal pain, was
followed by violent reaction, attended with delirium, which too plainly
showed that acute inflammation of the stomach had supervened. The cause
when once known easily accounted for all the above mentioned symptoms. The
stomach and solar plexus of the sympathetic, must have sustained great
injury. In fact to one his recovery was almost miraculous as I considered
that mortification of some part of the coats of the stomach had taken
place as shown by the violent hiccup, and other urgent concomitant
symptoms, which ensued. By referring to the case it will be seen that on
the morning of the 16th he was to all appearance in articuls? mortis, but
rallied under the influence of powerful stimulants. No. 9. Gangrene - was
also a very remarkable case both in its cause and progress. The patient, a
private of the Guard, becomes intoxicated and lies down on the deck, where
he remains in one position during the night. In the morning he is roused
up, when his right arm on which he had been lying, is found in a state of
ephacilus? as far up as the elbow, in consequence of the long continued
pressure on the renal comites. The limb is however saved by several free?
incisions and the worst that happened is the sloughing of some of the
extensor muscles. The last of these cases mentioned in this Journal to
which I shall allude is No. 12. - Phrenitis. One of the Parkhurst boys was
the subject of it, and in spite of the most active antiphlogistic
treatment the issue proved fatal. In the early stage the head symptoms
were masked by an acute sclerotic inflammation of both eyes, which if not
the cause, was at all events the precursor of the Cerebral disease.
There
was a case of fracture of one of the metacarpal bones, caused by a fall
and to which I see I have omitted to allude in the Nosological Return - it
was simple and required but little treatment.
General
economy of the Ship - The prison doors were opened every morning at 5
O'Clock, Tuesdays and Fridays (washing mornings) excepted, when they were
opened half an hour earlier. Soon after, the prisoners were turned up to
wash in detachments, personal cleanliness having been at all times
strictly enforced. The prison deck was cleansed every morning either by
dry-holystoning or desert?scraping, according as the state of the weather
was most favourable for the one or other; the 'tween-decks were kept
consistently such by windsails, and swinging stones were frequently had
recourse to during continuous wet or damp weather, every favourable
opportunity was taken advantage of for airing the bedding; dancing,
singing and every description of amusement and exercise were encouraged
when they were all on deck in the evenings: in fact every means that I had
in my power was taken to promote their health and happiness.
The
prison deck and water-closets were sprinkled over with the solution of the
Chloride of Zinc,every morning and evening during the voyage, with the
exception of a few days at the commencement. If, however the weather
happened to be damp or wet, instead of sprinkling the deck, blanket flags
were well wetted with the diluted solution and waved between-decks, by
which means the air there was always kept in a pure and wholesome state. I
repeatedly during the voyage called the attention of the officers of the
Guard and Ship, to the very remarkable absence there was at all times, of
three peculiar animal effluvia which are generated and evolved wherever a
number of persons are crowded together in a confined space. In my journal
of the voyage on the 28th of October I observe that I have made the
following entry relative to the beneficial effects of Chloride of Zinc
when applied to the water-closets - "Last night at the same hour (9
O'Clock) when doing my "rounds", all the men of two messes on
each side of the water-closets complained of being unable to sleep in
their berths in consequence of the noxious effluvia which emanated from
the above mentioned places. The smell was certainty very bad, but this
evening owing to the use of the Chloride of Zinc there is not a trace of
it left" The reason for not having previously used the Chloride of
Zinc - conscious as I was of the disagreeable odours which descended from
these confined places and polluted the atmosphere of the prison deck and
equally so, the ease with which they could be removed by the magic touch
of that fluid - was in consequence of the Last containing it having been
mislaid when the stores were embarked, and only found on the date above
specified, after a most rigorous search.
Robert
Beith M.D.
Acting Surgeon Superintendent" |