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(3) If a Ship's Surgeon is not carried, have the crew mastered ready for
inspection by the Port Medical Officer as soon as he boards the ship.
(4) NOT proceed beyond Gravesend Pilot Station until visited by the Port
Medical Officer.
III. If the answers to all the questions on page 1 are 'NO', and the ship has not
called during the previous FOUR weeks at any of the Ports mentioned above,
the Master need not communicate with the Port Health Authority unless directed
to do so by a Customs Officer.
NOTE—(a) Then a ship calls at a port in the United Kingdom, makes a declaration of health,
and then arrives in London in continuation of the voyage, the Master shall only
declare cases of illness that have arisen since the making of the previous declaration,
and have thus not. already been declared.
(b) Article 18(1) of the regulations states:— 'On arrival of a ship from any foreign
port or from an infected area which is not a foreign port, no person other than a
Pilot, a Customs Officer, an Immigration Officer or an authorised officer shall,
without the permission of the Medical Officer, board or leave the ship until it is
free from control under these regulations, and the Master shall take all steps
necessary to secure compliance with this provision.'
2. Radio messages
(a) Arrangements for sending permission by radio for ships to enter the district
(Regulation 13)
(b) Arrangements for receiving messages by radio from ships and for acting thereon
(Regulation 14(1) (a) and (2))
The Thames Navigation Service of the Port of London Authority has its Operation Room at
Gravesend and keeps in contact with ships coming up the River Thames on radio frequencies
allocated in accordance with international agreement. The number of ships fitted with the radio
equipment necessary to use the service is limited but there is a steady increase in the number of
ships being fitted, particularly ships coming to the Port of London from 'infected' areas.
The Port Health Authority's own radio-telephone link between the Hulk "Hygeia", the ra.v.
"Howard Deighton", the m.v. "Alfred Roach", and the Operations Room has been in service
throughout the year and has proved of outstanding use. Direct communication is also possible
with the Quarantine Launch of H.M. Customs which is fitted with a radio-telephone operating on
the same frequency as that of the Hulk "Hygeia".
Masters of ships approaching London from a Foreign Port, whether or not fitted with radio
equipment for contacting the Thames Navigation Service, are still required to send a radio
message to "Porte 1th London" giving expected time of arrival at Gravesend and particulars of
any infectious disease on board. All such messages are received by the North Foreland Radio
Station and then telephoned direct by the G.P.O. to the Boarding Medical Officer on duty at the
Hulk "Hygeia".
In the event of further information being required from a ship, for instance, as to clinical
details of any infectious diseases or perhaps as to the necessity of removing a patient at
Gravesend, or, again, about preparations to be made by the ship for disembarkation of a patient,
contact with the ship by the Boarding Medical Officer can be made through the Thames Navigation
Service up to as much as two hours in advance of the time of arrival at Gravesend.
At times when the 3oarding Medical Officer is fully occupied, e.g. when there is a medical
emergency or several ships to be visited urgently, or to avoid delay to a ship in exceptional
circumstances, it is possible to check with the ship direct and with the co-operation of H.M.
Customs arrange for 'free pratique' to be granted immediately and without the ship being boarded
by the Medical Officer.
The value of the radio-telephone service on our own craft, combined with the active assistance
of the Thames Navigation Service, is shown by the following report from Dr. J.A. Jones,
First Assistant Port Medical Officer:
"The "Dominion Monarch" from New Zealand and Australia via Panama and South"ampton
sent a W/T message this evening (1.1.60) giving the Expected Time of Arrival
"Gravesend at 0200 hrs. 2nd January. It was so unusual for this ship to send a W/T mess"age
that I asked the Thames Navigation Service to enquire, when the ship 'reported', if
"she had any sickness to declare.
"The reply was that there had been chickenpox during the voyage, but that it was now
"over. I decided to check this with the Ship's Surgeon and accordingly went to the Opera"tions
Room at 2100 hrs. There,with the ready co-operation of the staff, I was 'put through'
"to the Surgeon.
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