Mission

"We're gonna need a bigger boat." "It's such a pretty boat... ship."

Smallpox In Viruses, Plagues and History by Michael Oldstone, he has a whole chapter on the subject which you might enjoy if this subject interests you. “By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, smallpox was the most devastating disease in the world, in Europe alone killing an estimated 400,000 people each year. One-third of all cases of blindness resulted from smallpox.” (Oldstone, p. 33) Interestingly, smallpox was one of the few diseases for which they had a sort of vaccination in the 18th century England (although it would probably have not been used on common sailors). "“The Royal Society of London was the first informed of the practice of variolation around 1700 and began collecting data on the procedure during the first decade of the eighteenth century, primarily from one of its members, the physician Emanuel Timoni. Dr. Timoni had received his medical degree from the University of Padua and from Oxford. He later served as the physician to the British Ambassador’s family in Constantinople. There he observed variolation and documented the procedure for the Royal society. His reports detailed withdrawal of the fluid from a pustule of a patient with uncomplicated smallpox on day twelve or thirteen of illness, then pressing the fluid into a clean glass container and transferring this material into fresh cuts made by a needle through the fleshy part of a recipients’ arm. Lady Mary Montagu, wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey, observed this procedure done in 1718. As a great beauty, Lady Montagu had a horrifying experience with smallpox when, at the age of twenty-six, she became infected. Although she recovered, her face was permanently disfigured. Her brother was not as lucky; he died of the disease. Fearing a smallpox attack on her six-year-old son, she had him variolated during her husband’s absence from Constantinople, presumably because he objected to the procedure. But Lord Montagu was not alone in his reluctance toward variolation. The British Embassy Chaplain raged that variolation was un-Christian and could succeed only in infidels. However, the variolation done in spite of his fierce and sustained opposition was supervised by Dr. Timoni and performed by Dr. Maitland, the Scottish Embassy surgeon. The procedure was a success and Lady Montagu’s son resisted smallpox infection. Lady Montagu later informed her friend, Carolene of Anspach, the Princess of Wales and later the Queen of England during George II’s reign, of the variolation procedure. Lady Montagu described vividly its effectiveness in the many cases that she had seen, particularly her son. In 1721, during an outbreak of smallpox in London, the Princess of Wales asked Dr. Maitland to variolate her three-year-old daughter. Shortly thereafter, the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with members of the Royal Society, had Dr. Maitland variolate six condemned prisoners at Newgate. The prisoners’ reward for undergoing variolation was freedom if they survived the procedure and resisted and active exposure to smallpox. Witnessed by over twenty-five members of the Royal Society and reported publicly by newspapers, variolation showed a dramatic protective effect.” (Oldstone, p. 36) None of the period sources I have read so far have anything to say about curing smallpox, so I imagine they used bleeding and purging (which were useless in this case). This may be why the diseases was so feared. Tuberculoses Tuberculosis was usually called consumption (because it consumed people as they wasted away from the disease. They diagnosed it by the symptoms - fever, bloody cough, pale appearance and the wasting away of the patient. John Woodall notes in The surgions journal (1617 edition): "Moreover, if the patient his disease be in the forme of a consumption, the body being dried up as it were, or with shrinking of the sinewes: then if you intend to purge the party, give him pills called Pilulæ Russi for the first remedie, but if he complaine much of paines in his joynts, then a dose of Pulnis Arthreticus will do best, or purge him with Aquila Laxatina, it is also a general good purge at al times, and almost in all cases, though best in the French Pox [syphilis] and Dropsie [Edema]." Of course, Dr. Thomas Dover suggested Mercury as the cure. (Which he thought of as the cure for almost everything. This is why he was called Dr. Quicksilver behind his back.) John Moyle noted in his book: "The reason why I insert so many Recipes in this place, is, because Consumptions of the Lungs do often come by the long continuance of a Catarrh, which is from the Brain upon the Lungs, and fretting their tender Tunicles [covering membrane]; (besides a Patient Nauseates to take the same thing over often.) Now by over much straining and coughing, sometimes the Body, (and specially the Head) becomes hot and Burning, in so much that what Theume descends, causeth a heat or small Fever to attend the Patient; and in this case there are no better Medicines than these following: Rx. Syr de Meconio Comp., or Lohoc de Papav. Either of these things are excellent, held in the mouth to dissolve down leisurely of themselves. Or this: __ Rx. Balsam. Natrual. {ounce half} Mel. Angl. {pound half} misce. Let the Patient take the quantity of Nutmet Mornings and Evenings, and it will help him.” (Moyle, p. 259-62) In his fascinating book The Age of Agony, Guy Williams says, “During the whole of the eighteenth century, tuberculosis of the lungs- often called, for convenience, ‘consumption’- was one of the most prevalent and most dreaded diseases on the American continent.” (Williams, p. 192-3) There's more, but that's enough about that. Diabetes Diabetes was diagnosed by tasting the patient's urine to see if it was sweet. (Because there is no (or not enough) insulin to handle sugar, some of it is removed from the body via the urine - thus making it sweet to the taste.) There was nothing they could do for it, however, until Fredrick Banting discovered insulin in 1921 (for which I will forever be grateful to him.) Of course, Dover claimed to have cured someone of it in 1703 using...guess what.

What's your source for that? I'm looking for info on barbering.

Shut that bloody bouzouki up! "Bouzouki? Where is a bouzouki?" I'd love a serenade! I'd even translate for you into English the verses of old Greek songs for this! Oh, that was a Monty Python reference: . How it relates to a clavichord in my mind could take years to explain and cost millions of lives.(That's an Animal House reference.)

Anyone know these folks names? They are the staff of the Smoking Iron store. The people camped next to the Gists. These folks (who ran the wonderful food tent).

The power of rum drinks compels you! Be healed! All we need now is a proper preacher...

I have heard different things, mostly from people without sources to back them up on being clean-shaven as regards sailors. The only thing I've come across about the regularity of barbering with regard to ships concerned hair-cutting when the ships were in port in England: "[Woodall's] duties were laid down in The Lawes and Standing Orders of the East India Company printed in 1621. The first two paragraphs are as follows: "The said Chirurgion and his Deputy shall have a place of lodging in the Yard where one of them shall give Attendance every working day from morning untill nigh, to cure any person or persons who may be hurt in the Service of the Company, and the like in all their Ships riding at an Achor at Deptford and Blackwell, and at Erith, where hee shall also keepe a Deputy with his Chest furnished, to remaine there continually __ untill all the said ships be vayled down from thence to Graveyard. They shall also cut the hayre of the Carpenters, Saylors, Caulkers, Labourers, & any other Workmen in the Companies said Yards or Ships, once every forty dayes, in a seemely manner, performing their works at Breakfast and Dinner times, or in raynie weather, & in an open place where no many may loyter or lye hidden, under pretence to attend his turne of Trimming.[/i]" (Keynes, Geoffrey, John Woodall, Surgeon, his place in medical history," The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians London, October 1967, p. 16-7) Of course, talks of cutting hair, not beards (although 40 days between haircuts seems to be in line with what we do today). I do wonder what else this document has to say? (I don't have it yet, but it's on my list of Things to Procure from the Databases the next time I'm at the right university library.) Actually, Woodall's Viaticum (which is included in the 1639 and 1655 editions of The surgions journal) seems to have the most info on barbering shipboard, but I haven't finished it yet. If I come across anything when I pick it up again, I'll be sure to post that here.

Here are my photos from the event. You know, I can remember a time when I used to hate take photographs...

Ah, so you've met Sam then?

Most Excellent! (but i be need'n me eyeglass to be readn this here post) mP I was posting sotto voce. It's an old performing trick, used by no less than Popeye the Sailor.

Most of the ingredients were herbs, spices and derivatives of metals from what I've seen. Understanding the medicine is rather tricky because a lot of the recipes are in misspelled and abbreviated Latin. I used to try and decipher them when I posted them here in Twill and even then I could only figure out about 1/2 of the ingredients and terms. They used all sorts of caustics for plasters, which were used to try and draw "laudable pus." (The formation of pus in a wound was thought to be a good thing - they figured it was the bad humors being removed from the body.) A list of the crazy stuff they used (mustard, sulfuric acid and such) would be an amusing addition to the medicine portion of the book I am allegedly working on. Hmm... For the nonce, if you want to do some digging, this is wonderful on-line resource I have used to try and figure out what the heck I'm looking at. (The rest of that exercise is left to the reader.) You'll find some other such links on the Pirate Surgeon's Links page.

Anyone who is willing to sift through and dig up old treasures (threads) from the archives is all right in my book. Let me grant that wish since you can't do it yourself.

Huzzah! Shay and I have some restaurants we want to show you...

As sort of a starting point for that book about pirate surgeons I am always nattering on about, I have finally started adding some serious surgical content to my Pirate Surgeon's webpage relating to the surgeon's instruments. The first page in this series features an assortment of fun dental instruments as featured in the English translation of Jacques Guillimeau's The French Chirurgerie, printed in London in 1683. This puts it right square in the middle of the GAoP as an information resource (even though the original French version of the book precedes the GAoP by about 100 years.) Note that I think we can rate this as being safe for those of you who get queasy easily; there's nothing horrific in here unless you let your imagination run wild.

Indeed!

I don't fire blackpowder hand weapons, so I'd be probably playing with a pike - which is sort of absurd.

You know, the Menendez landing is coming up in a few weeks... just sayin :) For some reason I can't quite pinpoint, going to Florida in August to wear period clothes does not sound very appealing to me.

When were you a member of Piratesinfo, William? I think they still have me listed as a moderator over there, although I really haven't been active since 2004. Hi, Red_Dawn! You're just in time to wish Daniel farewell. (He's off to law school.)

Ah, yes. Searle's was great fun last year. I was just telling someone that even though Searle's has serious rules about period clothing, in many ways I thought it was more laid back than PiP. Plus the food is amazing. (Not quite as good as Cafe Sole or the corn and conch chowder at the Rum Barrel, but not quite as expensive either.) If time and budget permit, I'll see you guys there.

Bummer. We'll miss you guys. Also a bummer. One less pub person to meet anew.

Yep. I gave the more widely used modern name for it. I actually don't plan to talk about it in my book since it doesn't appear in any of the sea-based surgical manuals as something they regularly treated. I mostly posted that for the rabbits.

Good luck, Daniel! Did you finish your last book or does that also go into the locker? (Law school is hard work...I came *this close* to going after my JD...then I chose to pursue an MBA instead. It was easier and more integrated into my interests.)

Millipedes as medicine! (This was taken as part of a cure for the King's Evil. King's Evil was a period name for tuberculous swelling of the lymph glands. It was called this because many people thought that it could be cured by the touch of royalty.) "Millepedes should be washed, dried, and baked, then the Powder given in White Wine 3{scruples} twice a Day. Some infuse {ounce}i in a Pint, and take 2 or 3 Spoonfuls of the Expression, and some will swallow a Score at a time alive.” (Atkins, Navy Surgeon, p. 24) Oh, and just for a fun, another bit from Atkins... "How many Gret Men, (besides the Trustees,) have sollicited the Belief ot he Public to still stranger Things? * Apparitions, Witches, conversing with the Devil. That Women may conceive and bring forth Rabbits. A dead Man's Hand work powerfully in Cures. That Joshua has restored the Deaf Dumb and Blind." (Atkins, Navy Surgeon, p. 36) Women may conceive and bring forth rabbits?

Well, there's only one person left on the list now. (And then there was one...) Some day I really, really want to fly to an event. (Hint, hint.)

You could always start a thread asking people to list their home port. It's not graphic, but at least it would be around as long as the pub was around. Personally, I found the map sort of cumbersome when several people lived within a hundred miles or so of each other.