Catalogue description Medical and surgical journal of the convict ship Henry , for 13 March to 29 August 1823...

Medical and surgical journal of the convict ship Henry, for 13 March to 29 August 1823 by Thomas Davies, Surgeon and Superintendent, during which time the said ship was employed in a passage to New South Wales from England with 160 male prisoners.

Folio 1: David [Bilson], aged 19; disease or hurt, pains over the body, particularly in the large joints, griping and tenesmus, skin hot and dry, pulse frequent. Put on sick list, 2 April 1823, Gravesend. Discharged cured, 12 April 1823.

Folio 2: William Booth, aged 28; disease or hurt, seized in the night with rigor succeeded with much heat of skin, belly slow, pulse above the natural standard. Put on sick list, 17 April 1823, Sheerness. Discharged cured, 30 April 1823.

Folio 2: From the 28th to the 30th April 1823 there were 14 applicants with obstipatio. Treatment in the above case was with purgatives.

Folios 2-3: John Shaw, aged 23; disease or hurt, cough and acute pain of the breast, pulse 98, small and hard, belly costive. Put on sick list, 29 May 1823 [possibly April]. Discharged cured, 12 May 1823.

Folio 3: Robert [Hest...], aged 30; disease or hurt, severe griping pain in the belly, frequent stools, tenderness of the lower part of the belly, pulse frequent and hard. Put on sick list, 10 May 1823. Discharged cured, 16 May 1823.

Folio 3: Thomas Cornhill, aged 19; John Carter, aged 18; John Williams, aged 21; Thomas Jones, aged 28, William [Guit], aged 21; Thomas Rutter, aged 20; disease or hurt, accidents between 42 north latitude and 17 South latitude. Three of these were cases of ulcer succeeding to accidents, others the result of accidents inseparable from the movements of novices aboard ships.

Folio 3: Mary Collins, aged 36, wife of Private Collins; disease or hurt, premature labour, in the fourth month, stillborn twins. Put on sick list, 22 June 1823. Discharged cured, 6 July 1823.

Folio 4: [Mrs Captain] Lockyer; disease or hurt, slight bowel complaint of a few days standing. Put on sick list, 1 July 1823. No discharge date recorded but two days of treatment.

Folios 4-5: John Fearnhead, aged 28; disease or hurt, violent headache, nausea, vomited twice in the night, skin hot and dry, eyes turgid. Put on sick list, 4 July 1823. Discharged cured, 15 July 1823.

Folio 5: John Wilson, aged 29; disease or hurt, acute pain in the lower part of the belly, bowels much relaxed, slight fever, tongue loaded. Put on sick list, 10 July 1823. Discharged cured, 16 July 1823.

Folio 6: John Edwards, aged 58; John Holyland, aged 30; Charles Paine, aged 47; William [Pite], aged 17; James Stott, aged 15; William Boyle, aged 24; George Wigge, aged 17; disease or hurt, slight cases of catarrh. Put on sick list, 15 July 1823. All discharged by last day of July 1823.

Folio 6: At the end of July 1823 there was a change in the atmosphere requiring clothing to be issued. Warm jackets, stockings and shoes were given out, items taken from the prisoners on entering the hot weather.

Folios 7-8: William Jones [or Francis], aged 59; disease or hurt, taken ill in the night with every symptom of fever, his bowels have been open for four days. Put on sick list, 3 August 1823. Discharged cured, 18 August 1823.

Folios 8-9: Joseph Lee, aged 28; disease or hurt, slight dysenteric disease, attended with fever, soreness of the abdomen on pressure, stools frequent, tenesmus. Put on sick list, 17 August 1823. Discharged, 25 August 1823.

Folio 9: 27 August 1823, entered Port Jackson at day light not having one single case of sickness.

Folio 9: 29 August 1823, disembarked all 160 prisoners with the guard and their families, 52 in number, being all those who embarked in England. Signed Thomas Davies, Surgeon RN New South Wales, 29 August 1823.

Folios 10-14 Blank.

Folio 15: Abstract of the preceding journal, being a summary of all the cases contained therein. Continued fevers, 3; Fluxes, 5; Ulcers, 6; Pulmonic inflammation, 1; Abortion, 1; Catarrhs, 7; Obstipatio, 14.

Folio 15: Surgeon's general remarks. The unusually healthy state of the guard and convicts may be in part attributed to ventilation using windsails and keeping fire lit daily, and other attention to the health of the convicts, such as airing hammocks on deck and use of the cold bath. Signed, Thomas Davies, Surgeon RN.

Folio 16: Blank.