AFP£NDIX. 
551 
the thermometer was 78°, and the barometer 29.78, with twenty-nine on 
the sick-list. 
After leaving Rio, a number of cases of diarrhoea came on the Hst, and 
our progress was slow until after we crossed the equator, which we did on 
the 27th of April, with the thermometer at 82°, and twenty-seven on the 
sick-list. We arrived at Boston after a passage of forty-four days, during 
which time the proportion on the sick-list was twenty-eight, on the 23d 
of May, at which time the whole ship's company were so well as to be 
able to take their discharge except six, who were transferred to the hos- 
pital—two with phthisis, one with fractured tibia, and the remaining 
three with chronic rheumatism. 
The Potomac has been absent nearly three years, and the total number 
of deaths during that period was twenty-five, of which 
•16 died of dysentery, 
3 consumption, 
1 hepatitis (inflammation of the liver), 
1 concealed hernia (rupture), 
.1 hydrocephalus (dropsy of the brain), ^ 
1 injured spine, 
: 2 shot at the attack on Quallah-Battoo. 
25 Total. ^ 
During the cruise seven of the crew, including two of the junior officers, 
were sent to the United States in consequence of ill health. 
The average number of souls on board was four hundred and ninety, 
including thirty officers, of which we were so fortunate as not to lose one 
during the cruise. Our number of deaths was less than is usual on shore 
among the same number of adults— three out of every hundred being the 
yearly proportion ; which would have given the Potomac forty-five deaths 
during the cruise. It must however be remembered, that at the time of 
sailing we were considered all in good health. The daily average of all 
excused from duty, in consequence of illness and shght injuries, for more 
than three years, while I was on board, was twenty-eight ; which may be 
considered a large hst. This, however, being the first cruise of the 
Potomac, we should expect a large sick-list, as new ships are always 
more unhealthy than old ones,— a circumstance supposed to be owing to 
the large quantities of salt used in building, which, attracting humidity 
from the atmosphere, renders the ship damp, and consequently unhealthy. 
The Brandywine was very sickly during her first two cruises, which was 
attributed to her being freely salted. 
The Potomac has her galley on, the birth-deck, and is the only fngate 
in the service that has it placed there ; and was thought by many of the 
senior officers to contribute to the health of the ship— an opinion in which, 
with due deference, I cannot concur ; as I consider cleanliness and dry- 
ness the best prophylactics on board ship— circumstances that cannot 
exist when the galley is placed on the lower deck. 
In the cheerful and contented condition of the crew, with a constant 
state of employment, can be traced the health of the ship ; to which a 
theatrical company, a weekly newspaper, and relaxation from severe mill- 
