Dr Pugh was employed as the ship’s doctor on the barque Derwent for a five-month voyage from Gravesend in England to Hobart in Van Diemen’s Land. Along with his clinical notes, Pugh’s diary includes mention of a shortage of drinking water, storms, meteorites, a partial eclipse of the sun, an encounter with pirates and his own on-board romance.
This work complements Not Just an Anaesthetist, the author’s first book on William Pugh who introduced surgical anaesthesia to Australia in 1847 (in Launceston, Tasmania). PB 84 pages