Captain Ken #37 - Doctor on Board

Throughout the world British citizens are often referred to as Limeys, a title that I always consider as complementary. British ships were required by law to supply concentrated lime juice, which we had discovered prevented the skin disease Scurvy.  A horrible skin disease caused by lack of vitamin C.  And although that is thought to be, a long time ago, it was as recent as the nineteen fifties.  When some of our company’s midshipmen were helping to crew the vast German registered sailing barques ‘Pamir’ and ‘Passat’ they actually suffered from the disease, as those ships were not required to provide lime juice.

Not only did British ships have to carry lime juice, they were also required to have a copy of The Ship Captain’s Medical Guide, which was published by The Department of Trade and Industry, and must always be consulted when any patient is treated.

In the nineteen eighties when we began to employ female officers, I was Captain of a medium sized container ship ‘Strathconon’ engaged on the North Atlantic service.  On the night before we were due to arrive in Boston our first female Second Officer told me she was pregnant and would need to be relieved to fly home.  I was quite sorry as she was an excellent officer.   However, when on the evening before Boston I telephoned our immediate port requirements to our American Agent, I said ‘Could you supply four thousand dollars, take one crew member to the Doctor, and one to the dentist and one to the gynaecologist’. He replied ‘Captain, could you repeat the last request please’.