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33
The Master reported that there was no illness on board, and the vessel not
having come from an infected port was allowed to proceed to Mill wall Dock,
and arrived there the same day, and the passengers went on shore.
There were 352 in all, 265 going to America, vid Liverpool, and 87
remaining in London.
On the following day one of the immigrants proceeded to the London
Hospital, where he was found to be suffering from Small-pox, and was
thereupon removed by the Metropolitan Asylums Board. The medical man
who saw the case at the London Hospital stated that the rash must have been
out on the patient twenty-four hours before arrival of the vessel.
The vessel was disinfected, and through the kindness of Mr. Hawkey, an
examining officer of H.M. Customs, who collects from alien immigrants
certain information for the Board of Trade, I was enabled to obtain the names
and addresses of nearly all the people remaining in London, and the Medical
Officers of Health of the Boroughs concerned Avere duly notified.
Although such a large number of passengers w^re on board, no surgeon
was carried, and it will be easily realised how one undetected case of infectious
disease on such a vessel might lead to the wide dissemination of such a disease.
The Medical Officer of Health for Liverpool, as well as the owners of the
line of steamers by which these passengers contemplated crossing to America,
were notified of the facts.
On July 16th, a man employed at the Hospital, Denton, in connection with
the building of the new Ward, complained to the Medical Officer of not
feeling well ; he was carefully examined, and was found to be in the early
stage of a very mild attack of Small-pox. He was forthwith placed in the
Small-pox Ward.
On July 3rd, a patient died in the Hospital from Small-pox, and the
aforesaid man being a relative of the caretaker, assisted the latter to remove
the body to the Mortuary, and there is little doubt that the disease was
contracted on that occasion.
The steam tug " Sunshine " plies on the River Thames, and members of the
crew go ashore at various places.
The engineer ailed on July 10th, and not feeling better decided to go
home on Sunday, July 13th. He travelled by train to Gravesend, and his
attention was drawn by a boy in the railway carriage to spots on his face and
wrists. On arriving at his home, Gravesend, he was seen by a doctor, and
the complaint was diagnosed as Small-pox. This is an example of how this
disease is disseminated in the early stages.