Nina's Clinic

The year is 1747. You are James Lind, a surgeon aboard HMS Salisbury of the British Royal Navy, two months into a voyage across the Atlantic. A serious crisis is unfolding on your ship. Twelve sailors are severely ill with the same mysterious disease: Their gums are swollen, spongy, and bleeding—some teeth are falling out. Old wounds that healed months ago have reopened and are oozing. Their skin is covered in dark purple blotches, especially around hair follicles on their legs. They bruise from the slightest touch. Their joints ache so badly they can barely move. They're exhausted—too weak to climb the rigging. Two sailors died last week. One was bleeding internally, and no one could stop it. This disease has been the terror of long sea voyages for centuries. It has killed more sailors than all naval battles combined. The Admiralty calls it "the plague of the sea." Nobody knows what causes it. Some blame bad air below decks. Others say it's laziness. Some say it's God's punishment. But you, James Lind, are about to do something revolutionary: you're going to run the first controlled clinical trial in the history of medicine.