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Grog and tobacco
http://www.nelsonandhisworld.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1608		 Page 2 of 2
Author:  tycho [ Tue Mar 18, 2014 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Grog and tobacco
I nearly edited my post to add the very point you made, Galiano.

I wonder too whether cancer was an identifiable disease at that time. Many modern diagnoses were unknown and diseases often had names that described symptoms that could have had a variety of causes.

This is a digression, I know, and maybe should go on a different thread, but this list of diseases etc. admitted to the hospital at Haslar makes interesting reading. I've 'lifted' this from a post made on our 'mothership' About Nelson.


Diseases, Wounds, and Accidents admitted into the Royal
Hospital at Haslar, in 1780 (from Observations on the Diseases of Seamen, Sir Gilbert Blane, 1785)

Under the Physicians Care:

Continued fevers 5,539
Scurvy 1,457
Rheumatism 327
Flux 240
Consumption (TB) 218
Asthma 61
Small-pox 42
haemoptoe (coughng blood) 40
Intermittent fevers 33
Gravel 32
Measles 28
Dropsy (heart failure) 24
Epilepsy 19
Disorders of the bladder 16
Mania 16
Pleurisy and peripneumony 13
Palsy 9
Disorders of the ears 5
Cough, pain of side, and
Lumbago 4
Scrophula 4
Anginae 3
Headache and vertigo 3
Disorders of the abdominal
viscera 3
Disorders of the eyes 2
Haemorrhoids 2
Cholic 1
Jaundice 1
Epistaxis (nosebleed) 1

Total Physical Cases 8,143


Under the Surgeon's Care:

Ulcers, including wounds
and abscesses 979
Venereal diseases 183
Cutaneous disorders 165
Contusions, trunk and limbs 102
Fractures 60
Amputations and sundry cases of
lameness 32
Contusions, injuries
of the head 31
Ophthalmia and disorders of
the eyes 17
Disorders of the testicles 16
Fistula in perinaeo 12
Erysipelas 12
Fistula in ano 8
Luxations 8
Affectations of the urinary
organs 8
Burns 4
Oedema of the leg or arm 4
Ruptures 3

Total Surgical Cases 1,644


Note: 1 in 13 admitted to hospital at this time died.
In 1813, it was about 1 in 30
Author:  Marzy [ Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Grog and tobacco
American baseball players traditionally chewed tobacco to ward of dust, however this has practically stopped now.
its illegal to do so.

David.
Author:  Marzy [ Wed Mar 19, 2014 10:23 am ]
Post subject:  Crimea revisited.
Trouble in the Crimea again, 158 years later.
Pity Nelson is not around, he'd sort em out no doubt.

David.
Author:  Galiano [ Thu Mar 20, 2014 2:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Grog and tobacco
Marzy. that reminds me of a comment somebody made online back in 2007, when 15 Royal Navy personnel were being held captive by the Iranian government.

The question was asked, "What would Nelson do?"

Answer: "Hell, Nelson would've hauled his ships overland to shell Tehran!"
Author:  Tony [ Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Grog and tobacco
And what happened last time Nelson tried a land attack? :wink:
Author:  tycho [ Thu Mar 20, 2014 9:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Grog and tobacco
Trying to resist my tendency to digress, I've posted a story about a lifeboat being hauled overland on a separate thread Inside Nelson's World. It's an amazing story.
Author:  brian [ Thu Mar 20, 2014 4:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Grog and tobacco
Marzy!
You write 'when a man o war was fully operational there would of been no time to smoke!'
I must take issue with this. No doubt when a ship was in action there wouldn't have been time to do anything else: but life on a warship was once described as 'long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of panic.' The fact is that a warship was 'fully operational' in the sense of fighting on only very rare occasions. Most of the time it was just sailing from point to point and doing routine maintenance - yet it was manned to fight. The consequence of this is that for 'normal' maritime purposes a warship was wildly over-manned. A 1200 ton East Indiaman for example needed a crew of only some 50 people. A frigate of 1200 tons had a crew of 250! There was plenty of leisure and when reading ships' logs (particularly when they were on long cruises) it is difficult to escape the conclusion that officers were often at their wit's end finding something for the crew to do - often resorting to perpetual washing and endless painting!
Brian
Author:  Tony [ Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Grog and tobacco
... and 'working up junk'.
Author:  Marzy [ Thu Mar 20, 2014 6:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Grog and tobacco
Hello Tony
I only meant in battle, the smoker couldn't exactly 'stop for a smoke' could he?
Thanks all i was pointing out.

Marzy
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