During the Golden Age of Piracy, any pirate ship that had a surgeon, or any kind of medical practitioner, onboard probably got him by kidnapping him from another ship. But hey, it beat getting slaughtered like so many others.
Mark C. Kehoe has always been fascinated with pirates. He participated in pirate forums, which led to becoming a pirate re-enactor, which led to difficult research on what the life a pirate surgeon was like, as there are few contemporary accounts, and those are hard to find. All this led to the The Pirate Surgeon's Journals. It contains an extensive history of the medical profession itself and how it fits into seafaring, plus articles on how these surgeons dealt with the plague, alcoholism, provisioning and dietary struggles, and other difficulties of taking care of outlaws at sea. We also get a look at the horrific injuries these surgeons confronted, as well as the diseases and disabilities they encountered. Oh yeah, there are plenty of other pirate topics outside of the medical realm, too. You'll want to bookmark the site because there's just so much. -via Boing Boing
Newest 1 Comment
im guessing there wasnt a ton of hand washing or soap on a pirate ship
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)