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Title Medical Journal of the Hired Ship John Calvin, by John Will Bowler, Surgeon, During which Time the Ship was Employed in Making a Voyage to Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land with Female and Free Settlers
Date 21 Dec 1847 - 23 May 1848
Document Type Shipping Papers
Reference ADM 101/39/2
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Admiralty and Predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and Predecessors: Medical Journals
Description Manuscript journal of John Will Bower, Surgeon on board the migrant ship “John Calvin”. The journal lists cases tended to by the surgeon, a daily sick list and his general remarks on the voyage. Five patients died from disease during the passage. A table listing the numbers taken ill is also included.
Series Description A selection of journals returned to the bodies responsible for superintending naval medical services by the surgeons of HM ships, some hospitals, naval brigades and shore parties. There are also journals from convict ships and emigrant ships, for which naval surgeons were provided. The journals contain an account of the treatment of medical and surgical cases, and usually a copy of the daily sick list, statistical abstracts of the incidence of diseases, and general comments on the health and activities of the ship's company.
Biographical Note / History Fleet Temporary Memorandum 215 of 1990 terminated the requirement for ships' medical officers to compile journals.
Theme(s) Journey Conditions; Motives for Emigration; Ships and Shipping Lines
Country (from) Ireland
Country (to) Australia
Places New Zealand
Ports Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Dublin, Ireland
Nationality Irish; European
Ships John Calvin
Keywords dysentery, diarrhoea, vomiting, colic, child migration, female emigration, transportation, health and sickness, fever, medical examination, poverty, pneumonia, vomiting, venereal disease, victualling, surgeon, death
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK