1813: Destination Australia – Role Resource Pack

Thinking about being the surgeon

Consider the following questions:

1.  Discuss the medical knowledge of the times and medical tools that were available. What did they know? (Find relevant websites)

2.  Common diseases and cures. (Begin writing “medical reference book”)

3.  Sketch main tools in preparation for your surgeon’s tool kit models.

4.  Give scenario (using names from their lists) and have them write diagnosis and treatment in logs (on paper to write in log after lunch).

Ship Surgeon’s Medical Reference

Disease / Symptoms / Treatment
Scurvy
(A deficiency of vitamin C.) / Nausea, weakness, loss of hair and teeth, and eventual death. Caused by a lack of fruits and vegetables in the diet. More sailors died of this than any other cause.
Consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis) An occupational disease of seamen caused by the confined spaces in which the sailors lived, with little ventilation and light, and gross overcrowding and little hygiene. The incidence among officers was much lower than in the sailors. / Fever, night sweats, a hollow cough, and the formation of abnormal lumps in organs and other body parts. In humans, the disease mainly affects the lungs.
Scarlet Fever
Dysentery (Diseases of the large intestines from an amoeba.) / Diarrhoea with blood and severe stomach cramps.
Diphtheria
Gout
Small Pox
Toothache
Anaemia
Boils
Sea sickness – (being off balance on board ship) / Upset stomach, vomiting, and headache. Can cause dehydration. / Usually goes away after a few weeks at sea.
Typhus – (contracted from body lice.) / Ten days after being bitten: pain in the muscles, headaches, drowsiness, fever, sores, a purple or rose-coloured rash, and delirium. After 5 days a dark-red rash appears, the second week the victim becomes delirious and dies. If the victim survives the first 2 weeks, he or she will recover. / Impure air, bad smells and confined spaces were thought to be the cause and fumigation by sulphur the remedy.
Flu
Fever
Complaint / Symptoms / Treatment
Food Poisoning
Alcohol Poisoning
Injuries / Symptoms / Treatment
Crush wounds
Splinters
Rope burn
Other burns
Amputations
Lacerations (cuts)
Penetration wounds
Concussion
Exposure
Sunburn
Abrasions
Fractures
Sprains

Health Measures On Board (reference: http://www.mariner.org/age/health.html )

Disease was part of life aboard ship. It was common for sailors to come on board with diseases such as chicken pox or measles; these rapidly spread to others in the tight quarters. Diseases were contracted in ports while the crew was on shore leave. Dysentery, typhus fever, and syphilis all could be traced to contact on shore. Still other ailments came from the food. Food poisoning was common, as was scurvy. Many sailors returned from a voyage suffering from malnutrition. Malaria would be contracted from mosquitoes in tropical climates. Any diseases involving vomiting and diarrhoea was called the flux.

Most ships' captains did very little to assist the sick sailors; many sailors would die at sea. Doctors did travel on board, but their remedies of purging (giving something that made you vomit) and bleeding probably harmed more than they helped. Techniques like scrubbing the ships with vinegar helped control the bed smells (it really killed germs). Most sailors were left to survive on will power and a hope to get home soon.

The shipboard health conditions were so poor that books and papers were written on the subject. Captain Cook adopted a set of health measures after many trials on his voyages. The following are measures he suggested and the ones he decided to adopt on a regular basis.

Health Measures Captain Cook Suggested

  1. Personal hygiene: cold bathing, skin friction (rubbing your skin), exercise on board, clean dry clothes, hammocks, bedding, and uniforms.
  2. Ship hygiene: cleanliness. ventilation, fumigation (killing fungus, mold), piped warm air and heating system.
  3. Medical hygiene: spacious sick bay. segregation of contagions (people who are contagious), surgical discipline.
  4. Antifever measures: prophylactic quinine (used for malaria)
  5. Water: distillation, purification, sterilization
  6. Food: baked wheat bread, cultivated greens, bottled fruits, salted antiscorbutic (antiscurvy) vegetables, fresh meat, salt meat.
  7. Reduced spirits: wine, cider, fruit drinks in lieu (instead of )
  8. Proven antiscorbutics: oranges, lemons.

Health Measures that Captain Cook Used

  1. Personal hygiene: cold bathing, exercise on shore, clean dry clothes, hammocks, bedding
  2. Ship hygiene: cleanliness, ventilation, fumigation
  3. Galley hygiene: scoured ship's coppers (clean cooking pots)
  4. Water: abundant and fresh water intake
  5. Food: reduced salt meat, prohibition of meat fat; fresh meat, vegetables, sugar in lieu of oil, wheat in lieu of oatmeal
  6. Empirical antiscorbutics

Disease, scurvy and sea-sickness were rife. Although only 39 of the 759 convicts on the first fleet died, conditions deteriorated. By the year 1800 one in 10 prisoners died during the voyage. Many convicts related loosing up to 10 teeth due to scurvy, and outbreaks of dysentery made conditions foul in the confined space below deck.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pegasus/thomandmary.htm

The death rate likewise fell dramatically and continued to fall in the next century as these figures show: (http://www.rnreference.mod.uk/09/medhist.htm)

Average rate death for 1000
1856 to 1860 / 14.34
1861 to 1870 / 8.27 (introduction of the iron ship)
1871 to 1880 / 5.86
1891 to 1900 / 4.19
1924to1926 / 1.51

Thinking about being the Navigator

Skills: - can you:

Use a compass

Use a sextant or a backstaff

Use a protractor & dividers

Prepare charts

Navigators’ VOCABULARY

Reference: http://www.mariner.org/age/histvocab.html

Starting to think about being the Cook

If you were the provisions officer and had to supply the ship for a four-month voyage out to sea, what types of food and drink would you take and why? How would you keep track of food and water supplies.

http://www.mariner.org/age/sea_biscuits.html

A SAILOR'S RATION

Choosing your role and starting to think about the task ahead.

You are about to undertake a long sea voyage.

  1. Choose among the four of you what duties you will have on the ship. What role will you play? What makes each person the most suitable for their role?

Captain:

Navigator:

Surgeon:

Cook:

  1. What type of ship will you choose for your journey?
  1. Take a look at the world map. Where are you sailing from? What is you destination? Consider some possible routes you could take.
  1. What personal supplies will you need to survive this trip?
  1. What kind of knowledge do you need to steer the ship in the right direction?
  1. What supplies will you need to keep the ship sailing?
  1. How will you make sure that your sailors and ship survive the journey?

1813: Destination Australia - Why Take Risks?

Journey Responsibilities and Tasks Summary

You are key members of the crew of a convict ship. You are to get your ship, crew and the convicts from England to the penal colony at Sydney Australia with minimum loss of life and resources. Use the information below to help you decide who should play which role. You will be given until July 30th to complete this unit.

Captain

  • Meet with crew, make decisions on all important issues and make sure everyone is doing their assigned tasks.
  • Keep the Ship’s Log Book. This is the official record of all that happens to the ship and her crew. It is always the responsibility of the captain to see that the log is properly kept and is much more detailed than other crew members’ logs.*
  • Keep a record of the ship’s complement (a list of everyone on board).*

Surgeon

  • Responsible for the health of the crew and convicts. Deals with sickness and injury.
  • Keep a “sick list” record of those you treat.*
  • Keep a personal log.*
  • Make a medical kit (You will make a model of these instruments in a case).*

Navigator

  • Responsible to guide the ship to its destination. A very important job as the lives of everyone on board depends upon how well the navigator does his/her job. You will be using a set of special instrument and charts.
  • Keep charts showing the position and progress of the ship at all times.*
  • Keep a personal log.*
  • Make a set of special instruments (You will make working models of several of these).*

Cook

  • Responsible for the feeding of the crew and convicts.
  • Keep a personal log.*
  • Keep a running inventory of all the quantities of food and water supplies.*
  • (You will be providing a meal for the crew of your ship and two Year 8 teachers of your choice)

You will be assessed on these tasks individually and as a team. Logs, inventories and lists are to be presented using ICT. All work, including pictures must be properly referenced. The Captain is responsible to see that all the parts are gathered together for submission by the due date.

© State of Victoria2007

Alan Thwaites attended an Intel® Teach Essentials course and provided the idea for this portfolio. A team of teachers expanded the project. Copyright is owned by the Crown in right of the State of Victoria. It may be reproduced in whole or in part for study or training purposes, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgment of the source and no commercial usage or sale. Reproduction for the purposes other than those indicated above requires the written permission of the Department of Education. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and copyright should be addressed to the Liability Management Manager, Department of Education, 2 Treasury Place, Melbourne, VIC, 3002The State of Victoria accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of any part of this material and bears no responsibility for any modifications made.

** Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.