CURIOUS PLAGUE ON BOARD SHIP.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2101, 26 July 1878, Page 2

CURIOUS PLAGUE ON BOARD SHIP.

The barque Olustree lias arrived at New York, after a protracted voyage from Padang, Sumatra, under circumstances of a^ peculiarly trying nature. Captain Nickerson, the master of the vessel, has made a graphic report of the voyage, from ■which it appears that the Olustree left Padang on the 30th of December, laden with a cargo of green Java coffee. Shortly after taking the coffee on board both capam and men commenced to suffer from headaches and languor, the cause of which was set down to be Jar* fever, and tha men wero treated with quinine accordingly. Just before sailing, thesecond mate deserted, and the vessel left with a crew, including the master, of eight men, one of the seamen being promoted to the rank of second mate. Scarcely had the ship got out of harbor before both the mates became sick, and the navigation devolved entirely upon the captain. Other men followed, until all but the cook were affected, the symptoms being m every case the same, ' viz., violent headaches, ' an overflow of gangrenous bile on the stomach, alternate fits of vomiting and purging clear blood, with a thick black coating over the mouth, lips, throat, and tongue, and cramps m the legs. Quinine and other medicines were administered, and gave temporary relief, but weakened the men after the first effect had passed off. The captain's narrative proceeds : — On the 4th January the second officer got a little better, and went on deck, thinking to resume his duties, but soon he grew worse, and had to give up and go below. I still kept up, though alniO3t as sick as the others. On the sth he grew worse, and was delirious and utterly helpless. Wo did what we could for him, but it was almost impossible to help him any. I had four seamen on deck that day, but they were all sick and weak. On the 6th tJie sailors were a little better, and the mate was getting worse. He grew worse steadily from this time until he died. The first mate, however, got a little better, though he was still helpless, and the crew c< utinued sick. The weather was squally ; but we kept well clewed up, and lost nothing at this time. On tho 9th one of my sailors got a little better, and was able to do his trick at the wheel, which was a great help. On the lOth.about half-past 4 p.m., the second mate was very bad, and about half-past 6 he died without a struggle, and without knowing that he was dying. On the 12th, Mr Abbott, the first mate, was taken with tho same symptoms Mr Lewis, the second mate, had, and I told told him he could not live. It was very hard on the poor fellow, and he felt very "uadly, saying that the one thing he wanted to live for most was to see his poor mother. He was m a terrible condition. His forehead was all black, like the flesh of a decomposing corpse, and so were both of his feet up to the ankles. The men, worn out with sickness and enfeebled by their efforts to work, then began to lose all hope. At last I noticed that when I was on deck m the open air I felt much better than I did when I was ■m tho cabin, so I determined to make my bed on the top of the house, and I had the mate moved up too. He was so weak that wo had to put him on a plank and carry him up. I built a couple of tents up there, and we stayed there till we got near the Cape of Good Hope. I had to build the tents myself,for the sailors had more than they could do around the ship, and I had to/tie sailor, navigator, captain, and mate, and work at the pumps, too, afterwards. Ab soon as we got moved to the top of the house, we were both better ; so 1 told the crew to mova to the top of the forward house, and as soon as they got into the fresh air they began to giit stronger, so that we were really over the worst of it, though we had a pretty rough time afterwards. We wore pretty wet a good deal of the time while we ware on deck, as it rained a good deal, but we were better for the air. Iha In't noticed anything unusual m the coffee, as it smelled the same as green coffee always does, but after I had been on deck for a few days I noticed that when I wtnt into the cabin for anything, I had to run out as quickly as possible to keep from growing faint. Some of the colfe j was m the cabin, and I had it all taken out nnd put m the poop, and carbolic acid sprinkled around the cabin, so that when -we did go back there to live we had no further trouble. The recovery after wo got out from the cabin was wonderfully quick. Tho mate rallied m two hours, and the black color left his forehead and partly left his feet ; and m two days the black coating was all gone from our mouths and throats. It seemed like rising from the grave, and our spirits were up fast enough. On the 20th all hands were still improving, and I put on full sail for the first time, having four sailors at work, and feeling as though I had a little army. Captain Nickerson's experiences seem to have been partly shared by the crews of other vessels from the same place laden with the same cargo.