Loblolly boy is the informal name given to the assistants to a ship's surgeon aboard British and American

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...

s during the

Age of Sail The Age of Sail is a period in European history that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid-15th) to the mid-19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the int ...

. The name derives from a porridge traditionally served to sick or injured crew members. The term is no longer used; in the modern era surgeon's assistants are medical assistants in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, and hospital corpsmen in the U.S. Navy.

Etymology

The name comes from the serving of loblolly — a thick

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating, soaking or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, fruit, or syrup to make a sweet cereal ...

, sometimes enhanced with chunks of meat or vegetables—to sick or injured crewmembers to hasten their recovery. Loblolly, in turn, probably comes from the fusion of lob, a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

word meaning to boil or bubble, and lolly, an archaic English word for a stew or soup. Loblolly itself eventually came to mean anything viscous, such as a

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

, and terms such as the Loblolly pine were coined from the muddy habitat of the tree rather than from any culinary use. The name was first used to describe Royal Navy surgeon's assistants in 1597. The rating was also used in U.S. Navy warships from the late 18th century until 1861, when the name surgeon's steward was introduced to reflect more stringent training requirements. The name was changed to

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...

in 1866, and again in the 1870s to bayman and then in the early 20th century to Hospital Corpsman. The Royal Navy name changed to sick berth attendant. in 1833, with the nickname "Sick Bay Tiffy" (Tiffy being slang for artificer) gaining popularity in the 1890s. Medical Assistant is the current term. The term has also appeared in fiction over several centuries. In

Tobias Smollett Tobias George Smollett (bapt. 19 March 1721 – 17 September 1771) was a Scottish writer and surgeon. He was best known for writing picaresque novels such as ''The Adventures of Roderick Random'' (1748), ''The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle'' ...

's 1748 novel

The Adventures of Roderick Random ''The Adventures of Roderick Random'' is a picaresque novel by Tobias Smollett, first published in 1748. It is partially based on Smollett's experience as a naval-surgeon's mate in the Royal Navy, especially during the Battle of Cartagena de Ind ...

, the protagonist Random was made a loblolly boy upon entering the Royal Navy. Smollett himself claimed to have been a loblolly boy during his naval career, though as a surgeon's mate rather than surgeon's assistant his role did not strictly fit within the definition of the term. Loblolly boys also appear in C. S. Forester's

Horatio Hornblower Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films and radio and television programmes, and ...

novels, Alexander Kent's "Midshipman Bolitho" novels, and

Patrick O'Brian Patrick O'Brian (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series. These sea novels are set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and ...

's '' Aubrey–Maturin'' novels. Stephen Maturin's loblolly boy, Padeen, features in several of O'Brian's books.

Duties

The loblolly boy's duties included serving food to the sick, but also undertaking any medical tasks that the surgeon was too busy (or too high in station) to perform. These included restraining patients during surgery, obtaining and cleaning surgical instruments, disposing of amputated limbs, and emptying and cleaning toilet utensils. The loblolly boy also often managed stocks of herbs, medicines and medical supplies.

References

{{reflist

External links

U.S. Navy Hospital Corps History
Military medicine in the United Kingdom Nautical terminology Marine occupations Sailing ships