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26
The Boarding Medical Officer stationed at Sheerness adopts the same
routine in respect to vessels entering the River Medway, which is within the
jurisdiction of this Authority.
When a case of infectious disease is found, the vessel either proceeds to
Denton to land the case and be disinfected, or the launch proceeds to Sheerness
and the patient and infected effects are brought to Denton. Disinfection
of the vessel in the latter case is done at Sheerness.
Cases of infectious disease occurring on vessels within the limits of the
Port are removed by launch, when practicable, with all infected effects, to
Denton.
The procedure of disinfection is the same in all infectious diseases, but in
the case of Plague, where a case of human or rat Plague is proved to exist on
board the ship, that vessel must be fumigated with a view to the destruction
of all rats and vermin on board.
The terms of the Paris Convention, 1893, permit this to be done either
before or after discharge of the cargo, and I propose in future to fumigate and
disinfect all parts of the vessel that can be done at Gravesend, with the exception
of the holds. The vessel will then be allowed to proceed to dock, and
arrangements will be made for mooring her and discharging her cargo into
lighters whilst lying out in the middle of the dock. After the cargo has been
discharged the vessel will be fumigated throughout from stem to stern with a
view to destroying any rats, &c., on board. These will be carefully collected
and cremated in the ship's furnace.
It is not practicable to fumigate the holds of a ship previous to the
discharge of cargo, except by means of an expensive and complicated
apparatus, and indeed, it is not advisable that this Committee should take the
responsibility of so doing, as they may have to meet and contest claims made
in respect of actual or alleged damage done to the cargo by the process of
disinfection. An enquiry is being made by the Local Government Board as
to the best method of destroying rats and vermin on board vessels without
damaging the cargo.
Any bacteriological examination that may be necessary to confirm the
diagnosis of Plague and Cholera has been performed hitherto by Professor
Klein, F.R.S., on behalf of and at the expense of the Local Government
Board. This procedure will in all probability continue. Any further
necessary examination will also be performed by Professor Klein, but at the
expense of the Port Sanitary Authority.
An ample supply of drinking water of good quality is available at Gravesend
for supply to vessels. It will therefore be seen that the Port Sanitary
Authority is in a position to deal with any possible epidemic with absolute
confidence.