"In 1829 the Eliza's record passage of 97 or 98 days from England to Port Jackson was equalled or bettered.  The Norfolk commanded by Alexander Greig, left Spithead on May 22, 1829 and dropped anchor in Port Jackson on August 27, after a passage of 97 days.  The Norfolk was a barque of 537 tones, and, built at Littlehampton in 1814, was partly constructed of fir plank.  She made five voyages with convicts, averaging 109 days.  Her four passages to Sydney were made in 123, 97, 117 and 104 days, and on her only voyage to Hobart she took 106 days from Sheerness.  The Norfolk disappeared from the register in 1838"

The Voyage of the Eden

"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"