View report page

76
The facts were reported in the first instance to the Board of Trade, and
representations were made to the owners, and hammocks sufficient in number have been
supplied to each vessel, but as they are only issued to the men on request, the deficiency
of sleeping accommodation continues.
The crews in these vessels are natives of India, whose standard of comfort is
usually lower than that possessed by Europeans, but the fact that rough wooden
cots were erected in some of the vessels by the crew, and also that gunny bags had been
improvised as hammocks, would indicate that if the proper number of hammocks were
hung in the quarters, the crew would make use of them.
DEATHS OF SEAMEN FROM DISEASE.
I have extracted the following information from the official returns issued by the
Board of Trade, of the deaths from all causes of seamen belonging to merchant vessels
registered in the United Kingdom, which were reported to the Board of Trade during
the year ended the 30th June, 1913.
As to the sources of information, the Report states that:—
The particulars relating to deaths of seamen are obtained from depositions
and formal inquiries in respect of wrecks and casualties, inquiries held by
Superintendents of Mercantile Marine Offices, Consuls and Colonial Officers,
entries in official log books, &c. but the classification of deaths from
disease necessarily depends in some cases on opinions and inferences of persons
who have had no special medical training. It is not, therefore, proposed that the
figures relating to deaths from disease should be accepted as exact statistics,
but it is considered that they are sufficiently accurate to be of use when
questions arise relating to the origin or prevalence amongst seamen of particular
maladies.