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77
Built 1912. Officers' quarters without overhead ventilation.
Apertures in door side only.
Built 1911. This forecastle was divided by a fore and aft bulkhead.
In this case, the bulkhead was carried up close to the deck overhead. There was one
ventilator only in each compartment.
Built 1900. The crew's quarters in this case were in the lower
forecastle. No ventilation to the open air.
The cases quoted are merely a selection of the more obvious divergencies not only
from ordinary sanitary standards, but from the definite and precise instructions of the
Board of Trade itself, and are certainly evidence of the complaint which has been
brought forward in the Annual Reports of your Medical Officer for many years, that the
ventilation of crew's quarters, as at present tolerated under the Merchant Shipping
Act, is unsatisfactory to a degree which is, in the light of our present knowledge and
desire to improve the lot of the seaman, to say the least, extremely regrettable.
WATER CLOSETS.
With the exception of the travelling section of the public, few persons are aware
of the degree of present day efficiency reached by appliances of this type on board ships,
but closets for the use of crews are still in most cases limited to the type known as
the "trough" closet contained in a structure usually dark and unventilated, except by the
door. The term is sufficiently descriptive, and one must imagine a trough usually of
cylindrical section and of a length sufficient for the number of seats to be provided.
This trough is often found without any means of flushing other than by hand ; it
therefore is usually "furred" with decomposing excreta, and the kind of nuisance
which has to be dealt with in that case can be readily comprehended. It is no
exaggeration to state that these closets are frequently found in a condition absolutely
revolting to approach even by sanitary inspectors. Appliances of a modern pattern
and pedestal type can now be obtained of requisite durability and efficiency, at a reasonable
cost, and there is no practical difficulty in supplying them with efficient flushing
apparatus on any vessel of even moderate dimensions. The abominable and unapproachable
kind of closet first referred to should not be permitted on a ship any more than it
would be tolerated in a house on shore.