Watercolour
Disease in the Georgian fleet was one of the greatest threats to life, and part of our knowledge of diseases and how to prevent and cure them has been shared from the records of that time.
The essay “Medicina Nautica” written by Thomas Trotter Physician to the Fleet, on the Diseases of Seamen and Health in His Majesty’s Fleet, published in 1797; covers most aspects over 3 years. During 1782 many ships had epidemics of diseases, such as scurvy, catarrh (influenza as coined by the Italians) and typhus. Virtually rendering many ships inactive, some ships had 200 men infected, the fleet was in danger of collapse. Ships were contained breeding grounds and needed places to treat infected sailors in isolation and clear the ships. Dr Thomas Trotter, set up a naval hospital in a large house near the beach at Goodrington as one such facility and ships put into Torbay to clear the ships of infected men and to smoke the ships with sulphur and scrub with vinegar, (HMS Fortitude was mentioned as needing to take 160 men ashore). This prevented the overcrowding of the naval hospital at Dartmouth.
Work was carried out to adapt the house as a hospital which was established for Naval use at Goodrington in 1800 and continued until 1816, the house was sold and reverted back to private use in 1822
Initially, the dead were buried in Paignton churchyard, but a cemetery next to the hospital offered a more immediate and appropriate solution.
The burial ground, consecrated in 1808, became the final resting place for sailors, soldiers, and even hospital staff who succumbed to the very illnesses they treated.
Sadly, most of the graves were lost to sea erosion in the 19th century, eventually leaving only a single grave intact: that of Major Thomas Hill, who died in 1815.
Disease in the Georgian fleet was one of the greatest threats to life, and part of our knowledge of diseases and how to prevent and cure them has been shared from the records of that time.
The essay “Medicina Nautica” written by Thomas Trotter Physician to the Fleet, on the Diseases of Seamen and Health in His Majesty’s Fleet, published in 1797; covers most aspects over 3 years. During 1782 many ships had epidemics of diseases, such as scurvy, catarrh (influenza as coined by the Italians) and typhus. Virtually rendering many ships inactive, some ships had 200 men infected, the fleet was in danger of collapse. Ships were contained breeding grounds and needed places to treat infected sailors in isolation and clear the ships. Dr Thomas Trotter, set up a naval hospital in a large house near the beach at Goodrington as one such facility and ships put into Torbay to clear the ships of infected men and to smoke the ships with sulphur and scrub with vinegar, (HMS Fortitude was mentioned as needing to take 160 men ashore). This prevented the overcrowding of the naval hospital at Dartmouth.
Work was carried out to adapt the house as a hospital which was established for Naval use at Goodrington in 1800 and continued until 1816, the house was sold and reverted back to private use in 1822
Initially, the dead were buried in Paignton churchyard, but a cemetery next to the hospital offered a more immediate and appropriate solution.
The burial ground, consecrated in 1808, became the final resting place for sailors, soldiers, and even hospital staff who succumbed to the very illnesses they treated.
Sadly, most of the graves were lost to sea erosion in the 19th century, eventually leaving only a single grave intact: that of Major Thomas Hill, who died in 1815.