THE "SICK BAY".

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2977, 15 January 1917, Page 4

THE "SICK BAY".

SOME OF THE "BIRDS" WHO COME TO ROOST (By "Jacksfcaff" in the "Daily Mail.")' Being a cosy little place, the "sick bay" of a- warship has a strong fascination for some members of the crew. On coaling days or when there happens to bo some other unpopular job on hand the bay draws them like a magnet, and they become smitten with a great desire for a. brief retirement to its cleanly seclusion. But so contrariwiso and strango a thing is human nature that af shore leave be given, these same men utterly forget that thero is such a place as tho sick bay aboard tho ship. They havo no use for it. If a naval surgeon does not become an adept in "sizing up" men it is not from any lack of opportunity for acquiring this art. AH tho "birds" among the crow fly his way at one time or another. A "bird," you must know, is a man who wishes to "go sick" whenever he feels inclined for a rest, and you cannot expect a thousand odd men to come'together without some few of this type getting among them—a small leaven which docs not affect tho whole lump. In every branch of the Navy tie responsible officer has under him. a good man upon, whom he can rely for easement from many little worries. The steward at the'head of the sick-berth staff acts in this capacity for the warship's surgeon. A hard-headed "sort of chap" this steward, with an unsympathetic soul and an uncanny knack of diagnosing "that tired feeling" with half a. lift of his eye. Men "reporting sick" must get past him before they can reach tho doctor. "What's up?" asks the steward as A.B. Wearyone slides through the sick-bay door. "Feelin' out o' sorts," sighs Wearyone. "Are you? Coaliu' day to-morrow, ain't it?" Thereat Wearyone grips his jumper with both hands about the region of his diaphragms and with a woeful contortion of visage declares that bo "has a kind o' ldnk inside him." The steward, runs a cold, inquiring eye over the internally kinked one. "Here," he says, "lake these two starters an' come again to-morrow. This ain't no home o' rest," and 1 he drops a. couple of pills into the calloused palm which Wearyone holds out. Off goes Wearyone, disgusted with' his luck, thinking bitter things of the stony-hearted "poultice-walloper," and at the first opportunity drops the pills overboard. They may be good enough for the fishes, but not for him. Physio without comfortable leisure to digest it was not the thing he went in search of. "Might Cot Something Worse." Another "bird" mentally notes the • steward as Stoker Wander edges into : the bay. ' : "What's wrong with you?" he queries. "Feelin' rotten, right out o' sorts," explains Wander, promptly launching into an eloquent description of his symptoms, which recital he throws off very glibly, haying memorised it from a patent medicine advertisement which told a thousand and one ways in which a person might feel ill. No sooner does the story start than suspicion becomes certainty in the steward's mind. He knows the "patter." "Stow it now," he cuts in. "Trim, min' coal in the bunkers to-morrow, eh?" Wander "belays" his yarn to admit that such would be his occupation if he were well enough to do it. "Thought so," comments the 6teward. "Here, havo a doso of salts; that'll put you right." "Salts! Not me!" Aud Wander puffs out an indignant protest. "Want to sec th' doctor?" "Yes." "Wouldn't if I wcro you." ■•'Xfhy?'\ "You might get somethin' worse'ii salts.',' This is said with a look of friendly warning the message in whioh Wander is not slow to divino, and he turns disconsolately away. Andl so tho procession moves along. This, mind you, is only the lighter side of the mattor. Should a man be teally ill he receives prompt attention and every care, but "birds" are not allowed to go to , roost in the sick bay. Every morning at 9 o'clock the doctor, sitting at a little tablo in a Ecreened-off place, with his day-book open before him, sees "patients." The new cases como first. ■ Each man steps forward, is examined and prescribed for. In spite of the stewards' watchfulness a "bird" does sometimes come fluttering along. Him the doctor usually treats with tolerant, kindly humour, knowing by experience the kind of treatment which will be most effective in eradicating any incipient outbreak of hypochondria among the ship's company. "Givo. him a dose of castor oil, and see that he takes it," says the doctor, turning to his attendant steward; then to the "bird" he adds: "Come and tell me how you feel in the morning." Off goes the man for the doso he would much rather he without, though it cures him permanently. He will not risk a "ditto repeato" of this prescription, and he knows he would get it. A Jutland Example. The man who is really unwell goes straightway into the sick Bay. For the sake of the ventilation this is situated at one side of the ship and resembles a small well-kept hospital ward staffed with male nurses. In one part of tho bay is a dispensary containing a large chest of medicines and another of surgical instmments. Now that hospital ships accompany the fleets, serious cases are not kept very long in the bay, nor are any but minor operations performed thero. The more important are done cither in tho hospital ships or in tho shore hospitals, whither sick and liurt men are transferred with all possiblo speed. On distant stations and where a ship is patrolling an isolated beat thousands of miles from anywhere, as many of our warships do, tho sick bay must perforce bo the general hospital. Like everything else aboard her, the medical staff of a warship is primarily formed to meet war conditions, and in every case.has met them splendidly. The battle *of Jutland showed this. Aboard one of the smaller ships en- , gaged there the surgeon was killed and tho sick bay wrecked by almost the - first shell that struck the ship. But tho sick-berth steward of her, although injured himself, got together a temporary staff, and tended tho wounded so '. efficiently,that he saved several lives. That is only one illustration out of dozens that could ho cited to provo the all-round efficiency of a warship's medical department. In fact no one worked harder, more bravely, or more effectively during the Jutland fight than the doctors—and you could not_ have found any other officer in tho ship, no ■ matter how hazardous his post might be, willing to change places with them.