Cowpox children. In 1796, British medical practitioner Edward Jenner tested the theory that cowpox could protect someone from being infected by smallpox. Although cowpox originates on the udder of cows, Jenner took his sample from a milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes. Jenner extracted the pus of one of the lesions formed by cowpox on Nelmes to another individual who never had smallpox, James Phipps. He eventually developed a scab and fever that was manageable. Approximately six weeks later, Jenner then introduced an active sample of the smallpox virus into Phipps to test the theory. After being observed for an extended amount of time,
Royal Edward (1796 ship) then renamed her. Though volumes of "Lloyd's Register" and the "Register of Shipping" give a capture year of 1796, she does not enter "Lloyd's Register" before 1798. She sailed as a West Indiaman before entering into the slave trade. First slave voyage (1799-1800): Captain Thomas Bushell sailed from England on 4 September 1799. She gathered her slaves at Bonny Island, and arrived at Kingston, Jamaica on 14 July 1800. She had embarked 432 slaves and she disembarked 316, for a loss rate of 8.3%. "Royal Edward" left Jamaica on 18 October and arrived back at Liverpool on 23 December. She