Rum the remedy for perils of life at sea

Tropical fevers and sexually transmitted diseases also afflicted those on board naval vessels, passenger ships and convict transport, according to journals written by Royal Navy surgeons between 1793 and 1880.

As well as daily "sick lists" their meticulous handwritten notes and illustrations included in more than 1,000 newly-catalogued files held at the National Archives bring to life the experiences of travelling all over the world from Britain and Ireland.

One describes how a 12-year-old girl required medical treatment after vomiting a seven-foot worm as she sailed to a new life in Canada.

Ellen McCarthy was a passenger on board the Elizabeth taking emigrants from Cork in Ireland to Quebec when she fell ill, expelling three worms in total.

Her unusual case was described by the ship's surgeon, called P Power, in June 1825.

Another describes an encounter with Eskimos during a voyage of discovery on His Majesty's Griper in the Arctic in 1824 when the assistant surgeon William Leyson recounted how presents were left for the Inuits.

In exchange, the Britons took "several walrus heads" and a woman's head from a grave, he wrote.

Alcohol is a recurring theme of the journals, both for sparking drunken accidents and fighting as well as its use as a treatment.

Rum was often administered for all sorts of problems including scorpion and tarantula bites, while brandy also played a part as a medicine.

According to Dan Gilfoyle, diplomatic and colonial records specialist, the documents give an insight into approaches to medicine and healthcare from those at the "front line" of the medical profession.

He said the 19th century was a period when many aspects of medicine changed "radically" as developments were made in the causation of disease from previous theories of climatic causes to understanding of germs. The rapid expansion of the British empire also brought travellers into contact with new and varied diseases.