Search British Royal Navy, Medical Discharge Books 1786-1801

You will find information including

First name

Last name

Injury

Quality (rank)

Date of discharge

Additional information, including in some cases what happened to them following their discharge, can be found in the original record.

During the late eighteenth century, the Royal Navy was the backbone of Britain’s global strategy, rapidly expanding to counter the threat of Revolutionary France. Life on the high seas during the age of sail was famously brutal, but the greatest threat to a sailor was rarely enemy cannon fire. Between 1793 and 1801, naval combat accounted for roughly 6,500 British deaths, whereas disease, infection, and workplace accidents claimed upwards of 84,000 lives. Cramped, damp conditions below decks, poor sanitation, and diets lacking in fresh nutrients made warships breeding grounds for typhus (often called "ship fever"), dysentery, and scurvy.

To maintain fighting efficiency, the Admiralty relied on a structured system of medical management, led by ship surgeons and the Sick and Hurt Board. When a seaman or marine became chronically ill or permanently disabled by an injury, he was sent to a naval hospital like Haslar or Plymouth, or onto a dedicated hospital ship. Here, a formal medical survey was conducted by a panel of surgeons. If the man was deemed permanently unfit for duty, he was officially certified as "invalided" and given a medical discharge. The period 1786-1801, significant changes in the medical treatment of sailors took place including the introduction of lemon juice to combat scurvy.