Medicine Under Sail (review)

From the biographical note on the dust jacket of Medicine Under Sail readers learn that as a frontline surgeon, the author served during three of the "D-day" naval assaults of World War II in both North African and European theaters. The work under review here surely represents a long-term labor of love. Although we are not presented with new information on the subjects covered, the narrative is enriched by the inclusion of many quotations from journals and publications of naval personnel over the centuries. Certainly one of the strengths of this volume is the exemplification of the learning curve: the gradual accumulation of experiences of how to keep crews healthy during the months or years at sea, as sailors and officers tried to prevent or were forced

In this book of only 145 pages of text, readers will not encounter a definitive study of the subject. Nor will they find a generally chronological discussion of its decidedly European focus. Indeed, even within its ten chapters we confront often unrelated or repetitive accounts that move unexpectedly back and forth in time and from one nation's experiences to others, from ancient Greece to the U.S. Civil War.

Zachary Friedenberg provides a readable, albeit limited, introduction to the history of a global activity. With few exceptions, the bibliography is not well informed by recent scholarship. This shortcoming produces ill-defined connections between medicine practiced on land and at sea. Readers seeking greater understanding of the nature of those connections should peruse J. Worth Estes, Naval Surgeon: Life and Death at Sea in the Age of Sail (1998), and Harold D. Langley, A History of Medicine in the Early U.S. Navy (1995).