138 THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN 



Equipped only with a carving-knife, a carpenter's saw, and a 

 fish-hook, the captain lashed the man to the carpenter's bench, 

 after several members of the crew had fainted in attempting 

 to hold him, and performed the necessary operations alone and 

 unaided. The excruciating pain suffered by the patient in 

 having two major operations performed by an unskilled hand 

 armed with such instruments, and without the use of an anaes- 

 thetic, naturally surpasses description.^^ 



Illness and incapacity, trying under all circumstances, were 

 particularly so on a sailing vessel far out at sea. For not only 

 did the patient suffer from the sickness or injury itself, the 

 thoroughly inadequate means of treatment, and the nauseating 

 condition of the forecastle, but in many instances he received 

 but scant sympathy and attention. The captain regarded him 

 as a burden and an expense, the mates were suspicious of ma- 

 lingering, and the unfeeling fellows in his watch resented do- 

 ing his share of the work. The incapacitated foremast hand 

 who was treated with real kindness and genuine sympathy was 

 fortunate above the average. 



At once the most troublesome and the most characteristic 

 disease of the whaleman at sea was scurvy. Other maladies, 

 of course, were plentiful. Numerous types of fever, con- 

 tracted especially on the low-lying coasts of tropical regions j 

 dysentery and allied ailments following frequent and rapid 

 changes of climate j nervous disorders due to hardship, expos- 

 ure, and dissipation j venereal disease j boils, sores, and other 

 skin diseases caused by the constant chafing of coarse clothing 

 wet with salt water — all these added their quotas to the sick 

 lists. But scurvy remained the peculiar curse of the seaman. 

 This was due primarily to the long continuance of a salt diet 

 and the corresponding lack of fresh provisions j but poor food 

 and water, general filth, insufficient rest, and endless monot- 

 ony also played important parts. 



The disease usually appeared first in the legs, as a swelling 

 and a slight discoloration which gradually changed to a ghastly 

 black. In the later stages it was accompanied by stiffness, ex- 

 treme weakness, and melancholy, as well as a bunch-like con- 

 traction of the leg muscles. The best anti-scorbutic was pure 



15 See Davis, W, M., "Nimrod of the Sea," pp. 195-196. 



