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SPECIAL REPORT.
to the board of works—whitechapel district.
Report of the Medical Officer of Health upon the state of the
ventilation of the Sailors' Home and Destitute Sailors'
Asylum, situated in Well Street, near the London Docks.
Gentlemen,
Agreeably to the order of the Board of Works, I visited on
Wednesday last the Sailors' Home and Destitute Sailors' Asylum, and respectfully
present the following report upon the state of the ventilation of the dormitories in
the two establishments.
Sailoks' Home. The cabins or sleeping berths in this institution are arranged
in a similar manner throughout the building, viz., in 2 rows, each row consisting of a
series of cabins, varying from 9 to 13 in number, placed one above the other. Each
dormitory, therefore, is calculated to hold from 36 to 52 persons. There is an open
space, about 10 feet wide, between these double rows of cabins, and there is a ladder
in the centre, by which the upper tier of cabins is approached. The cubic capacity
of each dormitory, if entirely empty, is about 19,212 feet; but as the cabins, with
the necessary furniture, together with a lavatory and one or more private rooms,
occupy a considerable space, the cubic contents are very materially diminished. But
supposing the 19,212 cubic feet to be entire space, no more than 369 cubic feet are
allowed to each person sleeping in the dormitory set apart for the apprentices, in
which are 52 cabins.
Each cabin is 3 feet 10 inches in width, 7 feet 3 inches in height, and about
8 feet in length.
In appropriating to the apprentices a smaller space than to the other inmates, a
very important physiological fact is lost sight of, viz., that the respiration in young
persons is more rapid, and consequently they consume a larger quantity of the vital
portion of the atmosphere in proportion than adults. The total amount of space
allowed for each person sleeping in any of the dormitories would not be sufficient for
the healthy enjoyment of life, even if means had been contrived for the renewal of
the air in them; but as no means whatever are provided in any of the dormitories for
getting rid of the foul air which is given off by the respiration of so many persons,
and the product of the combustion of two gas lights, unprovided with glasses, which
are burning during the whole night, they are not proper to be used as sleeping
apartments without some alteration being made in them.
The windows, one at each end of the dormitories, are kept open during the day,