S8E8 Pacific Sick Ships: Medicine Aboard the Galleons
About this episode
This episode explores the impact of disease on ships during the Galleon Trade and the measures taken to maintain health during long sea voyages.
In the long journeys from Manila to Acapulco, disease was the clingy passenger no one wanted around. But it wandered around the decks, knocked on every cabin, stalked everyone on board—until one day, you woke up, and disease was just everywhere. How could it not be? There was food rotting inside the barrels, slick and moldy woodwork, crew and passengers and officers packed into tight spaces, pests crawling over the meals, the overpowering smell of human waste. And so they came, that grim parade: fever, chills, dysentery, infection, dermatitis, beriberi, the dread scurvy. How did the ships of the Galleon Trade and the trans-Pacific exchange keep up their good health in those arduous sea crossings? Let’s open the medicine chests and find out. Support us: patreon.com/thecolonialdept Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept Follow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdept Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com References: “Accessions to the Map-Room.” (1869) In the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London , 39. Arranz, Adolfo; Hernandez, Marco (6 May 2018). “Chapter 3: A journey of dread.” In Adolfo, Hernandez (2018), The China Ship, South China Morning Post. Luque-Talaván, Miguel (2014)…
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