In this episode of The Mariner's Mirror Podcast 'Death at Sea' Dr Sam Willis and Dr Dan O'Brien discuss the dangers of life at sea in the age of sail.
You could fall from the rigging, fall down a hatchway, drop a cannon ball on your foot, suffer from an endless array of hideous diseases, such as yellow fever, scurvy and syphilis.
There was little in the way of health and safety; medical knowledge was rudimentary and surgeons had a limited number of medicines, techniques and instruments they could use to treat their patients.
What this means was that, for the average sailor in the age of sail, death was all around them, everyday.
To find out more, listen to The Mariner's Mirror Podcast episode 'Death at Sea' in full here:
snr.org.uk/the-mariners-mirro...
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