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Cargo.—The cargo for London contained practically no foodstuffs. 15,000 bags
of flour were taken on at Shanghai and stored in No. 1 hold for landing at Port Said.
1,500 bags of rice from Hong Kong for Port Said were stored in No. 2 hatch. 2,830
bags of hemp seed for Marseilles were stored in No. 1 and No. 5 holds. This
constituted nearly all the rat attractive material on the ship.
Precautions Taken on the Ship.—At Colombo the infected quarters were
washed down with carbolic solution; at Suez the whole of the living quarters of the
ship were fumigated and their textile contents removed for steam disinfection. At
Marseilles the holds and quarters were fumigated—there was a delivery pipe in each
hold and the duration of pumping Sulphur Dioxide was five hours; about three hours
more were allowed for diffusion, i.e., a disinfestation of eight hours in all.
After landing material at Port Said the ship was about half full of cargo, and
therefore the fumigation at Marseilles, which took place prior to the landing of the
cargo, may have been more effective than has been supposed in former Marseilles
fumigations.
Precautions Taken at Gravesend.—The cargo was discharged into barges
under the usual precautions while the ship lay in the River. This cargo consisted
largely of boxed, cased and barrelled goods. It appeared that the vast bulk of the
London cargo needed no detention; certain articles, however, were detained for a
fortnight. The amount of Antwerp cargo was very small. This was discharged in
London, so that the whole ship could be placed under fumigation when empty.
I am inclined to think that the risk of infection from this ship was small, but in
the absence of certainty, pending the discharge of the cargo and the estimation of
the residual infection, I considered it reasonably necessary to detain the ship at
Gravesend.
Notifications to various Medical Officers of Health:—
Passengers 9
Crew -
Workmen, &c. 7
s.s. "Foyle" arrived from Shanghai on the 29th April. On the 22nd March
an apprentice complained of swelling in the groin which he considered to be a rupture,
and for this he was treated with a truss. The swelling became more painful and was
recognised as a Bubo. At Colombo and Perim the Port Surgeons regarded it as a
Venereal Bubo, but the patient denied venereal disease although he had exposed himself
to the risk of contracting this disease in Hong Kong on February 26th. Patient was
landed at Suez as a case suspicious of Plague on April 12th. At no time was the patient
ill, nor was there any rise of temperature. No dead rats were found on the ship, and no
other case of illness occurred.
The ship carried a cargo of powder, shell and rubber.
The Boarding Medical Officer at Gravesend had little doubt that the case was one
of Venereal Bubo; the rat condition was watched. The quarters on the ship were
fumigated, and all bedding passed through steam disinfector.
s.s. "Karmala" arrived from Kobe on the 28th April. On the 27th March
a bedroom steward was taken ill with headache, shivering and vomiting; temperature
103, pulse 90. On the 1st April patient's left tonsil and left side of neck were much
swollen and inflamed. He was removed to hospital at Colombo on the 2nd April, and
a report received at Suez stated that he had died from Plague.
The infected quarters of the vessel were disinfected, and bedding and clothing
taken ashore and stoved.
On arrival at Gravesend, the vessel was visited by your Medical Officer; no sign
or history of rat mortality was discovered. The ship went to dock and was dealt with
as being under suspicion of a rat infection.
The names and addresses of passengers, 146, and crew, 67, were taken and
notified to the various Medical Officers of Health.
s.s. "Yangtse" (French) arrived on the 21st July from Dairen, Dalny. On the
27th May an Asiatic fireman was observed to be sick, at Saigon. He was seen by the
French Port Authority there and removed to hospital as suspected Plague. Patient
had a groin Bubo, but no fever. The case was kept in hospital, and a bacteriological
examination made, which was positive. It was a mild case. Patient's quarters were
close to. a hold, but away from stores. He had been ashore at Saigon between
May 13th and 27th, 1921.