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ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.

XIII. ON THE HEALTH OF TROOPS ON BOARD SHIP.

Troops on

The circumstances under which troops are to be found on board ship may Board Ship. be advantageously grouped into classes :—

I. Regiments or drafts, proceeding from this country on foreign service.
II. Regiments returning home from foreign service.

III. Troops passing by sea on service from one colony to another, or from one
station in a military command to another.

IV. Invalids returning to England for change of climate, or discharge from the service. With these may be classed men whose period of service has expired, and who are sent home for discharge.

The returns which have been received for the year 1861 show the sickness and mortality on board ship among 19,666 men in the first of these classes, 7,999 in the second, 4,968 in the third, and 4,271 in the fourth. As the length of time the different corps or detachments were on board ship varied greatly, according to the colonies to or from which they were proceeding, the limits having been five days from Gibraltar and 197 days from China, it becomes necessary, before making any calculations as to the amount of sickness and mortality, to reduce the strength to the average annual strength. This has accordingly been done by multiplying the number of men embarked in each vessel by the number of days they were on board, and dividing this by 365; the product is the mean annual strength. voyage, and the nature of the climate to or from which the troops were proAs the length of the ceeding, may naturally be expected to exert an influence on the health of the men, we have further grouped the returns together into five great divisions :1. India and China, including Ceylon and the Mauritius; 2. Cape of Good Hope; 3. Australia; 4. Mediterranean; 5. British America.

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I. TROOPS PROCEEDING ON FOREIGN SERVICE.

The number embarked for foreign service during the year was 19,666. The following Table shows the number of cases of sickness and the deaths which occurred among them during the voyage, with the classes of diseases by which these were occasioned. The diseases by which the admissions and deaths were caused are detailed in Abstract No. XXVIII of Appendix.

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Troops on

These results show a satisfactory state of health as regards all the troops Board Ship, except those proceeding to the Cape. The high ratio of sickness among the latter was due to the prevalence of sorethroat and influenza, venereal, itch, and boils, in the 2nd Battalion 11th Regiment, on board the ships "Boanerges" and "Indomitable," and which were stated by the medical officers to be the result of their excesses in Portsmouth, where they were embarked. It is stated in the report of the medical officer who went out in charge of the “ Boanerges," that thirty-six hours previous to embarkation 25 per cent. of the men were absent from barracks.

The proportion of deaths among the men proceeding to India and China is relatively high, but two of them were by drowning, one accidental, the other suicidal, and one was by sunstroke. The two deaths from dysentery occurred on board the "Strathallan," towards the close of a very long voyage to Hong Kong, during the last six weeks of which the weather was very bad, constant heavy rains with calms, and the thermometer ranging from 85° to 90° Fahr. in the shade. The duration of the voyage was 160 days.

II. TROOPS RETURNING FROM FOREIGN SERVICE.

The total number embarked, as shown by the returns, was 7,999. The following Table gives the information respecting the sickness and mortality among them. For diseases and causes of death see Abstract No. XXIX. of Appendix.

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As might have been anticipated, the ratio of deaths among the troops Troops on returning from India and China is high, but that of the cases of sickness has Board Ship, been moderate; more than half of it, however, has been caused by miasmatic diseases, chiefly diarrhoea, dysentery, intermittent fever, and ophthalmia. Twenty of the deaths were caused by dysentery and diarrhoea, and fourteen by cholera. The cases of sickness among the troops from the Cape were very numerous, but this arose from the prevalence of opthalmia in a detachment of the 3rd Regiment on board the "Sir William Peel." Between the 9th of March and the 26th of April, 101 cases occurred among 300 men. The Medical Officer in charge states that the disease was contracted while the men were exposed to the drifting sands after the wreck of the "Miles Barton," on Klep Strand.

III. TROOPS PROCEEDING FROM ONE COLONY TO ANOTHER.

The only important movements of this nature were from China to the Mauritius, and to India, and from India to New Zealand. There was also the change of the 1st Battalion 14th Regiment from Corfu to Jamaica, and several moves of troops from one station to another in the West Indies, Australian Colonies, and at the Cape. The total number of men embarked was 4,968, and the following Table shows the sickness and mortality which occurred among them. For diseases and causes of death see Abstract No. XXX. of Appendix.

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*The detachment of the 3rd Regiment here referred to was wrecked at the Cape of Good Hope, on its voyage home from China. As all the documents were lost, and there are no returns of the sickness and mortality during the voyage from China to the Cape, it has been deemed advisable to include this detachment among the troops returning from the Cape, and the more so as the only very prevalent disease among the men is supposed to have been excited by their exposure after the wreck.

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Troops on

Board Ship.

The ratio of sickness among the troops passing from China to India and the Mauritius was high. This was owing to the prevalence of continued fever and ophthalmia in the head-quarters of the 44th Regiment on board the "Minerva," from Hong Kong to Belgaum. Of the former disease 106, and of the latter 40 cases occurred among 292 men, between the 12th of October and 23rd of December. They were for the most part slight, and seldom more than two or three days under treatment.

The mortality among the troops proceeding from India to New Zealand was very great, from cholera having broken out in the 70th Regiment immediately after embarkation at Calcutta. Twenty-three men of the corps died by this disease on the voyage, and also two by diarrhoea, and two by dysentery.

IV. INVALIDS, &C., RETURNING TO ENGLAND.

The number of these, included in the returns, was 4,271, and the deaths among them were 93. As these deaths, however, have all been accounted for in the preceding part of this Report, it appears unnecessary here to enter into any details respecting them.

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