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| European Ship Doctors and Medical Reforms from the Late 18th Century to the Early 19th Century |
| Zhang Lanxing |
| School of History Culture and Tourism, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu610068, China |
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Abstract In the early modern times, ship doctors began to work on European ships for oceangoing voyages. Because attention was not paid to ship doctors and their work for a long time, some problems occurred during the ship navigation, such as shortage of medical personnel, difficulty in their promotion, heavy workload, poor working conditions, low salaries and status, etc. The thorniest problem was the high mortality rate at sea, which resulted from new types of highly infectious maritime diseases and poor working environment on the ship. As beggars, criminals, and vagrants were recruited, the worsened physical fitness of the navy was another influential factor. As a result, maritime medical reforms were carried out in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, calling attention to value ship doctors and related work.Some renowned ship doctors, including James Lind (1716-1794), Gilbert Blane (1749-1834), and Thomas Trotter (1760-1832), provided specific suggestions about maritime medical reform and turned them into practice. Their suggestions were focused on two aspects. One was to develop effective treatment methods of reducing mortality rates, ensuring the health of the crew members, and carrying out good preventions. Lind, for instance, proposed that fruits and vegetables should be appropriately added to the diet as a way to solve the most serious problem of high death rate of patients with scurvy, which was a significant advancement in the history of human medicine. The other was to improve maritime medical system and health care. Ship doctors emphasized the essential role scientific management and systematic analysis played in achieving significant progress in maritime medicine. Besides, they advocated for and set up an example of medical ethics.Reforms of maritime medicine ensured regular navigation and significantly reduced the mortality rates of sailors, soldiers, and navigators. This was the greatest achievement of marine medicine in those days. With the joint efforts of ship doctors, navy, companies and society, the system of ship doctors in Western Europe was much developed. Medical personnel increased on board, ship doctors’ responsibilities became clearer, their social status and salary were elevated, and their medical ability was improved. From a broader perspective, the reforms pertaining to ship doctors contributed to the progress of maritime medicine and even the entire human medicine (Western medicine). Methods of studying diseases were more scientific, data more comprehensive and conclusions more accurate. Medical and health conditions at sea were largely improved. Specialized port hospitals and marine (military) hospitals came into existence in Western Europe.The second half of the 18th Century witnessed more progress. The group of ship doctors in Western Europe (Britain in particular) became larger and constantly proposed useful reform suggestions which were gradually turned into practice. These were the inevitable results of the unremitting efforts by ship doctors, the continuous improvement of medical technology, and the constant development of maritime activities. Diseases such as scurvy and epidemics, which had long plagued navigators, sailors and soldiers, were more deeply understood and put under control to a certain extent. In the 19th Century, the system of ship doctors continued to improve, and maritime medicine made more significant progress. History of human beings entered a period of rapid development.
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Received: 15 January 2024
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2024, Vol. 54 
