The Merry Past 



The lot of a sailor wounded in battle was terrible, 

 for the rough-and-ready methods of surgeons on board 

 men-of-war sometimes degenerated into sheer brutal- 

 ity. One of these men, after a severe action, gave 

 directions to throw the dead overboard ; besides the 

 dead, however, there were some wounded men whom 

 it was supposed the surgeon wished to get rid of, who 

 were also ordered to be thrown overboard. Some of 

 the unfortunate men remonstrated against this cruel 

 order, but the surgeon replied : " Come, throw away, 

 if you attend to these fellows, they will all swear they 

 are alive." 



The medical treatment of illness on board ship was 

 also crude in the extreme. Cases were known in 

 which sea-water was employed as a specific for almost 

 every ailment. A doctor who was a great believer 

 in its efficacy, being on his way up a rope ladder to 

 rejoin his ship, the rope broke, and he was precipi- 

 tated into the water ; on which, bawling out lustily, 

 one of the sailors enquired, " What's the matter ? " 

 " Why," answered a messmate, " the doctor has only 

 tumbled into his own medicine chest." 



Many curious customs existed in the British navy 

 in old days ; it was, for instance, considered contrary 

 to naval etiquette for frigates to interfere in combats 

 between ships of the line. There were several fri- 

 gates present at the terrible action between the 

 " Mars " and " La Hercule," in 1796, but they did 

 not take part in the fight, which was of the most 

 desperate nature. 



The " Hercule " had four ports blown into one by 



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