Why We Vaccinate Sailors.

Abstract

By 1819, wars of independence in many of Europe’s South and Central American colonies had prompted the commissioning of privateers, private citizens who would plunder an enemy’s shipping for profit. Some new republics, such as Venezuela and Buenos Ayres, encouraged the practice without limits; unscrupulous agents often crossing into frank piracy, preying even on neutral American shipping. Secretary of the Navy Smith Thompson wrestled this issue by tasking Captain Oliver Hazard Perry (Fig. 1), hero of the Barbary Coast and the War of 1812, to negotiate with Venezuelan President Simon Bolivar. Perry set sail in June 1819 in the frigate John Adams, 28, and the shallow-draft Navy schooner Nonsuch, 14. Arriving at the mouth of the Orinoco on July 25, John Adams was sent to anchor in Trinidad, and Perry transferred to Nonsuch for the 300-mile journey up the river to Angostura. There, Perry requested the forbearance of Bolivar in reducing the number and scope of privateering commissions. For weeks they negotiated, until on August 11th the Venezuelan Secretary of State acknowledged the obligation of his government and pledged both an indemnity and to exert more control over privateers. On August 15, Nonsuch weighed anchor. As many of Nonsuch’s crew, including her surgeon’s mate Dr. Mordecai Morgan, had taken ill with fevers. Dr. Forsyth, an expatriot former U.S. Army surgeon now resident in Angostura, accompanied Perry’s return. According to contemporary sources, Perry himself had a chill, but remained hale until Nonsuch anchored at the mouth of the Orinoco on the evening of the 17th. That night, in his cabin shared with Dr. Forsyth, Perry began to feel fevers, chills, headache, and myalgias. The next morning, Nonsuch crossed the bar and shaped a course for Trinidad. Dr. Forsyth’s experience with tropical fevers led him to apply the lancet and administer cathartics. He quickly discovered Perry’s constitution had become too weak for bloodletting. Over the next days, Dr. Forsyth, now assisted by recovered Dr. Morgan, continued cathartics and tonics of bourbon and mustard seed. Perry’s fevers were fought with repeated spongings of vinegar and water. At times, it appeared the Captain was responding, only to have paroxysms of fever and prostration return. By the fourth day Perry was fading. Aware of his extremity, Perry called his trusted Lieutenant Daniel Turner to his bedside for his last will. Violent retching and jaundice now convinced even surgeon Leonard Osborne of John Adams of the impending end. doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-15-00564 FIGURE 1. Portrait of Captain Oliver Hazard Perry. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.