Catalogue description Medical journal of the Rajah , convict ship from 19 March to 19 July 1841 by James...

Medical journal of the Rajah, convict ship from 19 March to 19 July 1841 by James Donovan, MD, surgeon superintendent, during which time the ship was employed in a voyage to Van Diemen's Land.

Folio 1: copy of sick list, (names and details follow):

Folio 1: Louisa Puddock, aged 21, convict; sick or hurt, cephalalgia; put on sick list 17 April 1841, put off sick list 20 April 1841. Folio 1: Elizabeth Alexander, aged 19, convict; sick or hurt, cephalalgia; put on sick list 17 April 1841, put off sick list 20 April 1841. Folio 1: Lydia French, aged 37, convict; sick or hurt, syncope; put on sick list 18 April 1841, put off sick list 25 April 1841. Folio 1: Mary Donovan, aged 20, convict; sick or hurt, ophthalmia; put on sick list 24 April 1841, put off sick list 11 June 1841. Folio 1: Ann Chapman, aged 22, convict; sick or hurt, obstipation; put on sick list 30 April 1841, put off sick list 10 May 1841. Folio 1: Elizabeth Howarth, aged 26, convict; sick or hurt, dysuria; put on sick list 5 May 1841, put off sick list 10 May 1841. Folio 1: Jane Bowen, aged 48, convict; sick or hurt, obstipation; put on sick list 22 June 1841, put off sick list 18 July 1841. Folio 1: Sarah Parfitt, aged 40, convict; sick or hurt, diarrhoea; put on sick list 29 June 1841, died 18 July 1841. Folio 1: Ann Jones, aged 30, convict; sick or hurt, prolapsus uteri; put on sick list 2 July 1841, put off sick list 18 July 1841. Folio 1: Agnes Agnew, aged 21, convict; sick or hurt, obstipation; put on sick list 5 July 1841, put off sick list 8 July 1841.Signed: James Donovan, MD, Surgeon Superintendent.

Folios 2-3: Louisa Puddock, aged 21, convict, taken ill on board; sick or hurt, cephalalgia, complained of headache and sickness of stomach apparently from sea sickness; put on sick list 17 April 1841, put off sick list 20 April 1841.

Folios 3-4: Elizabeth Alexander, aged 19, convict, taken ill on board; sick or hurt, cephalalgia, pain in the head as well as in the left side near the region of the heart, loss of appetite, bowels costive, occasionally suffered from haemorrhoids; put on sick list 17 April 1841, put off sick list 20 April 1841.

Folios 4-5: Lydia French, aged 37, convict, taken ill on board; sick or hurt, syncope, was seized suddenly in her berth with a great difficulty of breathing and seemed to gasp for breath; put on sick list 18 April 1841, put off sick list 25 April 1841.

Folios 5-9: Mary Donovan, aged 20, convict, taken ill on board; sick or hurt, ophthalmia, pain in her right eye upon examined the surgeon found the vessels of the conjunctiva slightly inflamed; put on sick list 24 April 1841, put off sick list 11 June 1841.

Folios 9-11: Sarah Parfitt, aged 40, convict, taken ill on board; sick or hurt, she was put on the list suffering from diarrhoea, she was reported as affected in intellect in the report transmitted with her from the Penitentiary. She was harmless and always quiet except when the ship was in the variable winds near the Equator when she as well as another similarly affected showed some symptoms of violence. On enquiry it appeared that her bowels were for some days out of order without any complaint on her part, it was the nurse who observed her going frequently to the closet during the day and reported the circumstance to the surgeon; put on sick list 29 June 1841, died 18 July 1841.

Folios 12-23: Blank.

Folio 24: A nosological return of cases mentioned in the journal.

Folios 25-28: Surgeon's general remarks. The convicts who embarked on board the Rajah were from Millbank Prison. On the 19th March 1841 a steamer came alongside with 24 [females] who were selected by the Ladies Members of the Society for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners as the best conducted and most suited to fill the different situations on board the ship such as mess women, hospital nurses &c. They all appeared in tolerably good health. The surgeon stated that on the following day 127 female convicts and 6 of their children were received on board, seven of them aged between 50 and 60 years. Between 24th and 25th March [1841] 36 female convicts and two children were received on board from Newgate, and three also were received from the General Penitentiary. During the same time ten females and two children were removed from the ship, five by an ordered from the Home Office and the remaining five in consequence of insanity. According to the surgeon, one of the women who was appointed hospital nurse became outrageously violent and on the next day it became necessary to confine a second similarly attacked, both were removed on shore on the 25th March. Shortly after three others showed violent symptom of derangement and were separated from the rest and removed into the hospital.