Catalogue description Medical journal of HMS Phoenix for 1 March to 26 November 1855, by John Gunn, Surgeon,...

Medical journal of HMS Phoenix for 1 March to 26 November 1855, by John Gunn, Surgeon, during which time the said ship was employed on the Home and White Sea Station. (Described at item level).

[Note: ADM 101/112/7, 7A, 7B, 7C and 7D are produced as a single document: order as ADM 101/112/7].

Folios 1-4: Copy of daily sick list.

Folio 5: case no 1, Thomas Walker, aged 24, Stoker; taken ill at Woolwich; sick or hurt, palpitation; put on sick list, 1 March 1855, sent 12 March 1854 to Royal Marine Infirmary at Woolwich.

Folios 5-6: case no 2, James Barker, aged 23, Marine; taken ill at Woolwich; sick or hurt, scrofula; put on sick list, 1 March 1855, sent 12 March 1854to Royal Marine Infirmary at Woolwich.

Folios 6-8: case no 3, Mr Alfred Wood, aged 29, Paymaster; taken ill at Greenhithe; sick or hurt, delerium tremens, he indulged in ardent spirits both on board and on shore, he was absent from the ship from the afternoon of 28 March until the evening of the following day. On the 30 March he complained of sickness at the stomach, headache and excessive thirst. The Surgeon mentioned that the patient was out of bed nearly all day; sitting in the gun room or in his cabin, he became low spirited fancying himself dismissed from the service in consequence of a report to the Commander; put on sick list, 30 March 1855, died 2 April 1854.

Folios 9-10: case no 4, Thomas Hayward, aged 21, Ordinary Seaman; taken ill in the Downs; sick or hurt, fever; put on sick list, 7 May 1855, sent 8 May 1854 to Hospital at Deal.

Folio 10: case no 5, William Thomas, aged 65, Quarter Master; taken ill in the White Sea; sick or hurt, fracture and old age, he was a Greenwich pensioner and unfit for service when he joined the ship. He fell against the combing of a hatchway as a result of intoxication and sustained a broken rib of the right side; put on sick list, 26 May 1855, invalided 20 November 1855 at Chatham.

Folios 10-12: case no 6, Edward Comely, aged 24, Bombardier; taken ill off archangel; sick or hurt, ileus, he was completely prostrate when first seen, complained of pain in the head and stomach with sickness and excessive vomiting; put on sick list, 19 June 1855, died 21 June 1854.

Folios 12-13: case no 7, William Horton, aged 23; taken ill in the White Sea; sick or hurt, wound, this man was in a boat near the shore when he was struck by a musket ball which was fired from a height; put on sick list, 19 July 1855, died 23 July 1854.

Folio 14: case no 8, William Caddy, aged 15, Boy; taken ill in the White Sea; sick or hurt, dropsy; put on sick list, 27 August 1855, sent 24 November 1855 to Melville Hospital.

Folio 14: case no 9, David Rowland, aged 59, Ship's Cook; taken ill in the White Sea; sick or hurt, rheumatism; put on sick list, 5 October 1855, invalided 20 November 1854 at Chatham.

Folio 15: case no 10, James Laycock, aged 26, Able Seaman; sick or hurt, syphilis, was on the sick list for one hundred and fifty days, his system is thoroughly impregnated with syphilitic poison; put on sick list, 20 November 1855, invalided 24 November 1854 at Chatham.

Folio 15: Nosological return of cases mentioned in the journal.

Folios 16-17: Tables of medical statistics.

Folios 17-18: Surgeon's general remarks. The ship was commissioned at Woolwich on the 10 February 1855. The ship sailed from Downs to the White Sea on the 10 May and arrived on 3 June. The complement of officers and men was 130 - the lower deck was very small many complained of no room either to eat or sleep, there was only one hatchway for the deck which was kept open in all weather and as a moderate breeze caused the Phoenix to ship water everywhere, the lower deck was scarcely ever dry while the vessel was under weigh. Men sent on shore as often as possible to pick the bibbery and maroshka, two berries which are very plentiful on all the shores of the White Sea and especially on the Islands of the Gulf of Onegn, to help stave off symptoms of scurvy.