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Monday, April 30, 2012

In case of Favus, Dropsy, or Excessive Drunkeness...Read this

This is the 2nd post I promised regarding books I found at a Florida estate sale (the first post is here). My favorite of the 2 is this 1906 edition of The Ship Captain's Medical Guide.
It has been through quite a bit these past 106+ years, but considering where it has been I am surprised it didn't disappear to dust sooner.

From a website dedicated to listing the undersea location of ship wrecks (called Wrecksite) is the brief history of the ship whose name was stamped in this book:

"Completed in July 1907 as British Abonema for Elder Dempster Lines Ltd, Liverpool. 1920 renamed Sapele for the same owner. 1929 sold to Argentina and renamed San Jorge for Weigel Bohnen & Cia SA Ltda, Buenos Aires. 1934 renamed Santa Catharina for Cia Argentina de NavegaciĆ³n Mihanovich Ltda, Buenos Aires. 1940 sold to Italy and renamed Sirio for La Estrella SA, Panama. 1941 taken over by Canada and renamed Kitty´s Brook.
The Canadian steamship Kitty´s Brook SS was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on May 9th, 1942, about 450 miles out from New York on a voyage to Argentia, N.F.L. Nine of her crew were killed."

It Seems this poor ship made it to 38 before being felled by a German (presumably) U-boat. Sad for the 9 men lost on her, when she was only carrying wood pulp or paper products, hardly a good "kill" during wartime.
By the date marked in this book, it was probably part of the captain's new possessions that he took on board shortly after launch. Looking at some of the pages, I hope they had at least a part-time ship's doctor for a crew of 33.(Click on one for a readable image)


Does that makes sense - placing the cure for excessive drunkenness just after the cure for food poisoning, whose solution is to make the patient...excessively drunk?
 Click on each for some dated tid-bits on how to care for someone when care is 500 miles away. This is why it is hard to pass up certain book no matter what their condition may be.

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