View report page

15
marked Clean," but as the existence of Plague at all South American ports
has been suspected for some time past, the vessel was boarded by your
Medical Officer on her arrival at Gravesend at 11 a.m. on November 30th, 1904.
Whilst lying at Ferrol, in Spain, on November 25th, a coal trimmer,
of Spanish nationality, complained to the Master of not feeling well.
On November 26th he felt worse, and suffered with severe pain in his left
groin. A doctor was obtained from the shore, but he apparently did not
think there was much the matter with the man, and the vessel proceeded on
her voyage. The man became worse, with the symptoms associated with
fever, his temperature taken in the evenings being 105° F.
The Boarding Medical Officer at Gravesend, Mr. Hancock, thought the man's
complaint was very suspicious of Plague, he ordered his removal, with effects, to
the Port Sanitary hospital at Denton, informing me of the fact by wire. I
immediately proceeded to Gravesend, supervised the patient's removal to
Hospital and thoroughly examined him. The man was very ill, feverish, and
had a small, painful and tender swelling in the upper part of the left thigh.
From the clinical symptoms I formed the opinion that he was suffering from
Plague, and injected a full dose of Anti-Plague serum. I incised the swelling,
collected some of the fluid therefrom, and sent it to the Local Government
Board for bacteriological examination. Many rats were seen and caught on
board during the voyage, but no sick or dying rats were noticed. It was
stated that the patient had been seen catching rats with his hands. The crew,
with all their effects, were landed at the Hospital, where they were thoroughly
disinfected, the effects being exposed to the action of superheated steam,
whilst the men were given a bath containing a solution of disinfecting fluid.
The vessel was thoroughly fumigated from stem to stern, with the exception
of the holds, and on receiving an undertaking from the owners that they
would have the holds disinfected with sulphur-dioxide gas as soon as she
arrived in dock, the vessel was, on the morning of December 2nd, allowed
to proceed to the West India Dock, where she arrived at 9.30 a.m., and was
moored to buoys in the middle of the dock. Sulphur-dioxide gas was pumped
into the holds, engine room, and crew's quarters, and at noon on December 3rd
permission was given to discharge cargo.
On December 5th the discharging of the cargo was commenced. Owing,
however, to a live rat having been seen in the saloon on the previous night,
it was deemed advisable to fumigate that part of the ship again.
The names and addresses of all the men employed on the ship during the
process of discharging were recorded and notified to me each day, and these
were forwarded to the Medical Officers of Health of the districts in which they
were living. The majority of the crew were paid off, and on furnishing
satisfactory names and addresses were allowed to leave, this information being
sent to the Medical Officers of Health of the places to which they were
proceeding.