Daily Doodle 459

HMS Charon, Hospital Ship to the Channel Fleet, 1794.  Stationed aboard the Charon at this time was the eminent Dr. Thomas Trotter, Lord Howe’s Physician of the Fleet.  The Charon was one of many 44-gun two-deckers completed during and after the American conflict; an outdated type of cruiser brought back for a limited purpose, many found subsequent use in auxiliary roles, such as troopships, storeships, or in the Charon’s case, hospital ship.

I’d have thought a choice of a ship with a slightly more auspicious name would have been in order, myself…. D:

So, I thought i was getting over my illness on Saturday.  Whoo boy, did I misread the apparent signs of recovery.  I spent most of the last two days asleep and feverish, but at least today I could find a little energy to get up and do some painting practice before dinner.  This is really just a little exercise in taking an admiralty draught and fitting it out with masts and rigging according to the specified dimensions and tables etc…. – my brain is not up to much creativity, right now.

I don’t know if this is how the Charon would have looked in her time as Channel Fleet Hospital Ship; details are limited.  There might have been weathercloths or hammock nettings rigged, and the quarterdeck railings might have been of a different configuration than from the draught I referenced.

At any rate, I’m glad I’m not on Charon’s barge; it would be hyperbole, I think, to say I was in any real danger, but I was very ill indeed the last few days.  Here’s to continued rest and recovery!  I’m taking it very easy until I’m absolutely sure I’m well, this time – this was a nasty bug, and I haven’t been that sick in years and years.