Salt tablets

[Lou Barron]

on the Duchess of BedforCPR we got salt tablets also liquid quinine and it was bloody vile we use tobe inoculated that was early in the war if my memory serves me on the Gloucester Castle i think we had salt tablets but they had a pill i think it was called atrapinei think the spelling might be wrong when went back to sea after a spell ashore the ships i sailed on we got nothing like that at all

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates Salt tabs only on the tankers, Lime juice in the bar with the tennants if you were lucky on some ? only most were dry a few cans only allowed with rum ration if you did not drink it? Quinine was that for the gin drinkers? The only thing for The mosquitos was a porthole cover copper mesh, No V.D kits I like Val donigan he made some nice records.

[john walker]

I can remember both salt tablets (with an outer chocolate coating) and anti malarial tablets on the first few deep sea voyages I did in the late sixties, to the east coast of africa, the Persian Gulf and the Indian sub continent. The salt tablets were very important to help prevent heat exhaustion. None of the ships that I sailed on at that time had air conditioning. Working in the galley was bloody hot when underway. In port it was hardly bearable. I have a vague recollection of the medical advice at the time being to take two salt tablets with every pint of water with a reccomendation of a minimum of six pints of water per day (This seems an awfull lot so I might be wrong) I only ever saw one guy go down with heat exhaustion so it must have worked. One thing it never stopped was prickly heat. Anti malarial tablets 'Paladrine' were issued daily.
Charles louis baron I think the tablets you remember were called 'Atabrin' An older seamen told me that they were very bitter to swallow and if you took them over a prolonged period of time you tended to turn a nice shade of yellow.

[John Arton]

Hello all
I cannot recall how far back the B.O.T medical scales go but for sure since at least since the beginning of the 60's,and most likely quite some years before that, all U.K. registered ships had to carry as part of there Medical chest Salt Tablets and anti Malaria tablets (about 2 different types if I recall correctly) but it was down to the individual to take them. However most Captains (or who ever was in charge of the medical chest) would put out a supply of salt tablets in the mess rooms and aslo ensure that all took the anti malaria tablets. This down to the fact that as captain you also had a duty of care to all your crew members which includes providing preventative mnedicines such as anti malaria and salt tablets along with condoms etc.
I recall having to pay off a 2nd Eng. in Durban (0.p.l) due to heat exhaustion. It was his own fault as he drank a bottle of drambuie every morning before breakfast, too hardly any other fluids throughout the day except for loads of alcohol at night, worked like a trojan every day in 40deg plus temp, was acknowlrdged as one of the finest engineers in the company and was a wizard on a lathe but never gave a thought for his own health, despite pleas to him to take the salt tablets.
There was quite a big kerfuffle over it by the company as there was a high cost involved in his emergency pay off and hospital stay (quite lengthy) plus his repatriation home when it had all been caused by a completley preventable illness if only he had taken his salt tablets.
A very salutory lesson to this young cadet and I always made sure I took salt tablets in the tropics and also the anti malaria tablets well before entering a malaria zone (again a B.O.T. rquirement).
I lost a very good friend of mine to malaria a number of years ago. When he was at sea he was religous in taking anti malaria tablets but then he moved into a shore side position with a big timber importing company and on his first trip out to Indonesia to supervise a ships loading did not take the tablets, caught Malaria and that led to black water fever and he died 4 days after first falling ill with malaria.
p.s.
B.O.T. lime juice was also part of the medical scales up to at least the 70's
rgds
Captain John Arton (ret'd)

[Captain Kong]

Hi Lou,
I will be in Dunedin on Thursday February 23 on the Queen Elizabeth, will be good to have a drink with you.
See you then
Cheers
Brian

---------- Post added at 07:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 PM ----------

I only remember seeing Salt tablets on the tramps and Lime juice, that was good for polishing brass.
On EDs to the West African Coast we had a tot and a Paludrin tablet everyday.

In later years I think better diets and better food helped to stop taking salt tablets and lime juice.
The only time I ever saw the Dreadnought tubes were on the PSNC boats.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Hi Lou,
I will be in Dunedin on Thursday February 23 on the Queen Elizabeth, will be good to have a drink with you.
See you then
Cheers
Brian

---------- Post added at 07:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 PM ----------

I only remember seeing Salt tablets on the tramps and Lime juice, that was good for polishing brass.
On EDs to the West African Coast we had a tot and a Paludrin tablet everyday.

In later years I think better diets and better food helped to stop taking salt tablets and lime juice.
The only time I ever saw the Dreadnought tubes were on the PSNC boats.

In PSNC in the 50's

We were given paludrin tablets and salt tablets everyday once we had passed 23.5 north and the dreadnought tubes with every sub, although our indentures strictly forbade us to enter houses of ill repute! we used to swop them for beers in the bars and tell the girls they should always insist that the Yanks used them before passing on their favours

Lime juice was issued to us to mix with sand to bleach the wooden cappings on the rails around the bridge and boat deck, those were the days, god what fun we used to have on £7 a month!, only get you two cups of coffee now

[happy daze john in oz]

Bromide in the cocoa at the Vindi, profalactic kits with UCL. Maybe deck and engine got salt tablets on there but not catering. NZSC both salt tablets and lime juice available at all times to all crew.Similar with Blue Star if I recall.

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

I seem to remember that every P&O ship I sailed on in the 50's had bowls of salt tablets all over the place while we were in the Red Sea. They were optional but we were told that if we did go down with heat exhaustion it would be considered a self inflicted injury, and loggable. The same rule applied to serious sunburn.
Pete

[Ron B Manderson]

[QUOTE=happy daze john in oz;78351]Bromide in the cocoa at the Vindi,


I don't know about you lads, "but I think it is starting to work "
Ron the batcave

[Dennis McGuckin]

Remember passing out with heat exhaustion in Mombasa on my first trip.
Was drinking gallons of ice water.
Got one day off to recover. Don't recall getting salt tablets or anything else.
Den.