The Surgeon

The Surgeon

The Surgeon
The Surgeon, was responsible to the Captain for the health of the ship's company.

In battle he and his assistants would be in the ship's cockpit having made sure there was hot water for warming the amputating saws and knives so as to cause less agony for the patient. Some surgeons could amputate a limb in forty seconds.

Medicine in the navy had advanced and by the early 1800’s the men in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines could expect to recover from very serious wounds. To back up the Surgeons at sea the navy had hospitals in most of the naval ports and at Greenwich in London where the wounded could be looked after until their recovery.

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