Joseph Reynolds Luce. Journal of a Voyage from Nantucket to Cape Horn, July 12, 1832 Aboard the ship Young Eagle (1832)
Description:
Illness was inevitable on every ship due to poor rations, vermin, and viruses. Off the coast of Maui (spelled here “Mowee”), Joseph Reynolds Luce described how the ship Young Eagle “had the scurvy aboard. Gave them some potatoes. 3 men dye with the Scurvy.” Scurvy was caused by a vitamin C deficiency, leading to bleeding gums, blackened sore-covered skin, limbs seizing up, and as Luce noted, death from bleeding or infection.
