Catalogue description Medical journal of the Maria Somes, convict ship from 1 April to 16 August 1850 by J. G....

Medical journal of the Maria Somes, convict ship from 1 April to 16 August 1850 by J. G. Williams, Surgeon Superintendent, during which time the ship was employed on passage to Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land.

[Note: ADM 101/255, 1A-1G are produced as a single document: order as ADM 101/255].

Folios 1-7: Copy of sick list.

Folio 8: Blank.

Folios 9-11: case no. 1, Henry Jones, aged 23, Convict; taken ill at Spithead; sick or hurt, phlegmon, with violent pain in the right axilla extended along the caurse of the brachial artery and inner edge of biceps muscle; put on sick list 4 May 1850, discharged 16 May 1850 well.

Folio 11: case no. 2, George Wilson, aged 29, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, disease of the heart; put on sick list 8 May 1850, died 9 May 1850.

Folios 11-13: case no. 3, Henry Holmes, aged 22, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, febris tertian; put on sick list 16 May 1850, discharged 24 May 1850 well.

Folios 13-14: case no. 4, George Elvidge, aged 22, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, hysteria; put on sick list 23 May 1850, discharged 31 May 1850 well.

Folio 14: case no. 5, Mr. Williamson, aged 49, Religious Instructor; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, rheumatismus; put on sick list 31 May 1850, discharged 8 June 1850 to duty.

Folio 15: case no. 6, Thomas Boswell, aged 26, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, rheumatismus; put on sick list 3 June 1850, discharged 8 June 1850 well.

Folios 15-16: case no. 7, Frederick Durrant, aged 24, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, colica; put on sick list 1 June 1850, discharged 6 June 1850 well.

Folios 16-17: case no. 8, Mrs. Jamieson, aged 36, Soldier’s Wife; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, accident, fall on the deck, her head received a severe concussion but no injury or contusion to the back, it appears that she was four months with child and that the fall was the cause of her quickening; put on sick list 3 June 1850, discharged 10 June 1850 well.

Folios 17-18: case no. 9, William Love, aged 23, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, catarrhus; put on sick list 8 June 1850, discharged 17 June 1850 recovered.

Folios 18-19: case no. 10, Mrs. Downie, aged 33, Soldier’s Wife; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, natural labour of a fine infant; put on sick list 8 June 1850, discharged 17 June 1850 recovered.

Folios 20-21: case no. 11, William Scroley, aged 25, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, orchitis; put on sick list 5 June 1850, discharged 20 June 1850 recovered.

Folios 21-23: case no. 12, James Mathewson, aged 40, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, dyspepsia; put on sick list 13 June 1850, discharged 24 June 1850 recovered.

Folios 23-24: case no. 13, Joseph Baxter, aged 40, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, phlegmon in right and leg; put on sick list 15 June 1850, discharged 25 June 1850 recovered.

Folios 24-25: case no. 14, Mrs. Wood, aged 36, Soldier’s Wife; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, abortion, this miscarriage appeared to be brought on by great constitutional weakness and an extremely irritable nervous system; put on sick list 20 June 1850, discharged 3 July 1850 recovered.

Folio 25: case no. 15, John Martin, aged 40, Soldier; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, ulcus on the left leg in front of the lower third of the tibia; put on sick list 22 June 1850, discharged 30 July 1850 recovered.

Folios 26-27: case no. 16, Frederick Durrant, aged 24, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, dysenteria, this patient was before in the sick list very much troubled with worm, he again complained of colic pain in the bowels with cold shivering; put on sick list 13 July 1850, died 2 August 1850.

Folio 28: case no. 17, Peter Downie, aged 13 months, Soldier’s Child; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, marasmus, was come on board in misirable state having refused (as stated by his parents) the breast nourishment from his birth, there was also “abdomen tumidum”, this disease characterised by a peculiar loss of tone and energy of the system, enlargement of the abdomen and obstruction in the mesenteric glands; put on sick list 20 July 1850, died 20 July 1850.

Folios 28-29: case no. 18, John Jamieson, aged 39, Soldier; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, accident, fall down the main hatchway ladder and appeared at first of much hurt and complained much of his right side; put on sick list 27 June 1850, discharged 5 July 1850 to duty.

Folios 29-30: case no. 19, John Smallpiece, aged 30, Convict; taken ill at sea; sick or hurt, ophthalmia; put on sick list 1 July 1850, discharged 15 July 1850 recovered.

Folio 30: Nosological return of cases mentioned in the journal.

Folios 32-32: Surgeon’s general remarks, 257 prisoners were embarked on board at Woolwich, Portsmouth and Cowes from various hulks and Prisons all in good health. The guard consisted of 30 pensioners with 20 women and 46 children all in tolerable good health. During the passage only two convicts and one child of 13 months died, out of upwards of 400 souls, the first convict (George Wilson) died suddenly on the second day after the ship left Spithead, he was very sea sick and had slight complained of a pain in the left breast with cough and difficulty of breathing, the Surgeon stated that he was informed afterwards by the patient fellow prisoners that he was frequently in the infirmary at Portland Prison complained of the symptoms and always discharged without being materially relieved. The other convict Frederick Durrant who died of dysentery he was on previous occasion in the sick list complained of worms. The third was a child of 13 months the son of a pensioner..

Folio 33: Blank.