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51
It is quite the exception for a vessel to have a separate mess-room in which
the crew can take their meals, so that seamen have to sleep, to take their meals,
and to spend their spare time in the small space allotted to them.
This space is in the majority of instances insufficiently lighted, the ventilation
is bad, the ventilator, if provided, being placed in many instances
immediately over a bunk, it is then generally stopped up by the occupant of
the bunk, or else in other instances the ventilators are in the way on deck or
are liable to be carried away at sea; they are then removed and carefully
covered over with canvas, which is tied on and painted.
I am treating such instances as forecastles devoid of ventilation. It is no
excuse for a shipowner to say it is useless to fit ventilators as they would
be carried away by the first sea coming on board. Obviously, if from
this cause the forecastle cannot be efficiently ventilated, the crew must be
accommodated in some other part of the ship where ventilators can be fitted
without risk of being carried away.
The Board of Trade requirements as to lighting state:—
"Every space appropriated as crew space should be properly lighted.
"To ensure that such will be the case under the ordinary conditions of a
"vessel's employment, it will generally be necessary to have so much
"provision for light when the ship is new and the paint clean, that if
"one-third of it be closed it will be possible to read the print of an
"ordinary newspaper in any part of the space."
From my experience I should say that it is quite the exception to find any
forecastle in which these requirements are complied with.
I regard light as a most necessary means of preserving health; it is one of
the most efficient purifiers; a dark forecastle is invariably a dirty forecastle,
whilst a forecastle which is not properly ventilated is generally a damp forecastle,
for moisture condenses on the exposed iron parts of the roof and drips
into the bunks or on the floor.
The conditions under which seamen have to live on board ships are such as
would not be tolerated for an instant on shore, and I am bringing to the
notice of the shipowners every instance where I think improvement is required
and can be obtained.
The remarks made with regard to seamen should also apply to the quarters
inhabited by apprentices, although, as a rule, they are provided with a separate
deck-house, and are a little better off.