'GANS ON ICE

by Lucille D'ecoupage

~ We now number four ~ Sir Richard, Lt Caudal, the Whaler and myselfe. The others have bound Lt Tarbin's body for stowage in the lazaret so that he may be interred on dry land.
I find it hard to put into worde the act of neccesity of having to perfrom an autopsy upon a man whom so recently was one's shipmate and a talented and capable Officer... Apart from showing the usual signs of scurvye, his organs demonstrated uncharacteristic swelling and in the case of the spleen, atrophy. The remaining crew initially were afeared of Cholera, but there was none of the explosive discharge and dehydration associated with it. Full details are to be found in my Surgeon's record.
What is most striking to me, despite all other events, was his sudden yet brief lapse into dementia where he seemed to re-live an event from his youth ~ we suppose that he was once knocked unconscious while learning to ride a horse. In many documented instances, memory loss of the immediate action prior to concussion are commonplace. It was startling for us to observe him, in this state, re-living this particular instance... The anger he displayed and in particular his voice, which was unflattering to say the least, has disturbed me beyond all else on this voyage. That the mind might carry this information throughout our lives and call upon it whether conscious or not has awoken in me an unease I surely have not felt since my introduction to this world.

~ November 15, 1836