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subsequently diagnosed as Enteric Fever, and the patient removed to the Ealing
Hospital. This information having been forwarded from Brentford by
telephone, the boat was found at Deptford Wharf, and thoroughly disinfected.
In my last Report I called attention to a class of vessel, almost peculiar to
the Port of London, known as sailing barges. The cabins of these vessels
are in every case used as dwellings, women and children in many instances are
carried, and the conditions which apply to canal boats, apply also with equal
force to these vessels, and all others in a similar trade. These vessels ply
within the estuary of the River Thames, and between places within the limits
of the Ports of London, Rochester, Faversham and Colchester. They are for the
most part registered under the Merchant Shipping Act as "British Ships," but
little or no attempt is made to carry out the provisions of this Act with regard
to the comfort and health of the crew, indeed it is questionable whether those
provisions were ever intended to apply to other than bond fide "sea-going"
vessels. Assuming, however, that they do apply, there is no Authority
exercising powers under the Act, which possesses adequate machinery for
enforcing them in respect of this numerous and mobile class of vessels. It
would appear that the Board of Trade have no power to refuse registration to
these vessels, even when their modest requirements as to cubic space,
ventilation, heating, &c., are not complied with. They can only refuse to
deduct the space occupied by the crew from the registered tonnage of the
barge. The registration is effected as a nominal record, cancelled only when
the vessel is totally lost, or has been transferred to a foreign flag. It does
not imply that the accommodation provided for the crew is of a satisfactory
character from a health point of view.
At one time these vessels, when from places seaward of Gravesend, entered
and cleared at the Custom House as "Coastwise" vessels, but since the year 1898
this has been discontinued, as the following extract from the Annual
Statement of Navigation and Shipping will show:—
"From the 1st April, 1898, trade between all places in the estuary of the
"River Thames within the Ports of London, Rochester, Faversham and
"Colchester, to the westward of an imaginary line drawn from Reculver
" Towers to Colne Point, ceased to be considered trade by sea within the
"meaning of Sec. 140 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, and the
"arrivals and departures of vessels engaged in such trade ceased to be
" recorded as entrances and clearances in the Coasting Trade."
The result of this definition is that about 85 per cent. (annually) of sailing
vessels are no longer recorded as "Coastwise " traders.
A small proportion of sailing barges has been registered with the Port of
London Registration Authority under the Canal Boats Acts, but apparently
a view exists that the vessels so registered are to some extent at a
disadvantage compared with other barges which are free from the restraint of