Scurvy and Scott tragedy
I was up in Dundee last week and took the opportunity to visit my old haunts in the city. I was delighted to see the Royal Research Ship Discovery down by the River Tay, in a permanent dock.
This great ship played a key role in the history of Antarctic exploration, and is forever associated with the names of several great scientists and explorers, including Captain Scott and Sir Edward Shackleton.
The RRS Discovery was built in Dundee and launched into the Tay in 1901. It was the first purpose-built scientific vessel. It was the last wooden three-masted vessel to be built, and it was modelled on the Dundee whalers with a huge hull designed to withstand ice-packed oceans.
The Discovery expedition set sail in 1901 with the aim of carrying out detailed scientific exploration of the Antarctic. Captain Scott was in command of the voyage and Ernest Shackleton was the third officer. Unfortunately, Shackleton developed scurvy and had to be sent home on a recovery vessel. Apparently, he regarded this as a personal failure and caused a dispute which soured his relationship with Scott.
Scurvy had been known about for centuries and was always one of the great health risks for sailors on long voyages. Although James Lind, a ship's surgeon, had discovered in 1747 that a diet containing citrus fruits could prevent it, the theory was not universally accepted. Indeed, there were still peculiar ideas concerning it up to and during the First World War. And those ideas almost certainly caused many unnecessary deaths.
Scurvy is a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C. It leads to the formation of spots on the skin, the development of swollen, spongy gums, and bleeding from the mucous membranes. The spots most commonly occur on the thighs and legs, and a scurvy sufferer can become very anaemic, depressed and extremely lethargic. In advanced cases it causes wounds to break down, because it has an effect on the body's collagen.
We now know that the body can store vitamin C for up to three months, after which the symptoms of scurvy will become apparent. Thus you can see why sailors on long voyages and polar explorers would be so susceptible to it.
In Captain Scott's later, ill-fated expedition, known as the Terra Nova Expedition of 1910-13, Scott attempted to lead a party of five to the South Pole. Tragically, he and his four companions perished, from a mixture of exhaustion, starvation and exposure. Scurvy almost certainly played a part in their fate.
I am sure that you will have heard of Captain Lawrence Oates, who realised that he was unlikely to survive, so he uttered the words: 'I am just going outside and may be some time,' before he walked out into the blizzard.
It is probable that scurvy caused an old leg wound to open up and fester. It was a great act of self-sacrifice.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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