View report page

16
The provision of a pipe scupper to carry drainage from a forecastle through
a closet is oft-times neglected, and, as a consequence, the closet is directly
ventilated into the crew's quarters.
Ventilation, even in lower forecastles, where it is urgently needed, is in
some cases totally unprovided for, and the clause as to ventilating privies is
constantly ignored.
The shutting off from crew spaces of effluvium from cargo or bilge water
seems to receive scant attention, and it is probable that there is not a single
vessel trading to the Port of London on which could be found provision for
screwing down a store room hatch on indiarubber or other elastic substance.
There are still vessels met with, from time to time, in which the iron decks
are not sheathed over the bunks.
The closet accommodation is frequently not up to the standard of two
closets for every 20 men.
Bulkheads are not found to be tongued and grooved, and doubled with
intervening felt, as laid down in the instructions, and, finally, the closets on
many small vessels are not provided with a shoot or pan passing through
the side.
Shortly, the compulsory carrying out of all these regulations, which are
supposed to be complied with before deductions are allowed, forms the main
part of the duty of the officers of a Port Sanitary Authority, and as a
means of preserving the health of crews probably the most important part.
Even where in the case of a new ship (and this is rare) all these items
have been insisted upon, there is always need for frequent subsequent
inspections.
Except in the case of a passenger vessel, or where re-registry is required, or
a complaint has been lodged, the Board of Trade Surveyors do not inspect
the crew spaces a second time, so that the necessity for sanitary inspection is
apparent, especially when it is remembered how many deficiencies arise owing
to wear and tear, economy, and alterations ordered by the owner or master.
Ships, for example, where two privies originally existed are found to have
only one, the other at some person's desire having been converted into a
store room.
Again, scuttles in forecastles are broken by the anchor or sea, and instead
of guarding a new one, the opening is filled in with an iron plate, and
perhaps one-third of the available daylight thus shut out.
The simple fact that a day never passes without some one or other of these
or similar defects being discovered by your officers, and remedied in consequence,
will show the great value of a Port Sanitary Administration.