The Surgeon and the Chaplain
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The Surgeon
Fishing vessels with a crew of 20 or more men had
to have a surgeon on board.
or the green fishery,
shipowners often got around this by limiting the number of men on
the crew to 19. Surgeons did not have a good reputation. In the
green fishery, they were forced to help with the fishery if no one
was ill.
When the ship did not have a surgeon, the captain or one of the
sailors had to know how to draw blood and administer what little
medication was available. In the eighteenth century, a short manual
containing basic medical and pharmaceutical information was
available for ships' officers.
See " " and
" "
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Bleeding bowl, 18th century
Pewter
Photo: Steven Darby
(Canadian Museum of Civilization, 990.25.1)
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The Chaplain
God's representative on the ship, the chaplain ensured
compliance with religious practices and customs. He looked after the
souls.
rdinances required that
ships with crews of 40 or more men have a chaplain on board, so
green-fishery vessels rarely had priests. Only dry-fishery vessels
with large crews had to comply with such ordinances, if a chaplain
was available.
Chaplains were usually members of mendicant orders. The Franciscans
and the Récollets from Brittany also worked in the fishing
colonies in Newfoundland, Acadia and, later, Isle Royale and Isle
Saint-Jean.
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Instruction of youth in Christian piety,
taken from the Holy Scripture and the writings of the holy fathers...,
1780
By Charles Gobinet (1613-1690) (Paris: Ch. P. Berton)
Paper, leather
Photo: Steven Darby
(Canadian Museum of Civilization, Rare Book Collection,
RARE BV 4530 G6 1780)
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