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19
At Sheerness the Declarations of Health are collected by the Medical Officer or
the Customs and forwarded by the former with his weekly report.
Boarding of Vessels on arrival.
The Port Sanitary Authority maintain at Gravesend a hulk, the "Hygeia," on
which the Boarding Medical Officers live during their tour of duty. The boarding
launch "Howard Deighton," which has an ambulance room on deck, lies alongside
the "Hygeia." There are three Boarding Medical Officers and three crews for the
launch, each having 24 hours afloat and 48 hours ashore. Ships are boarded at any
time of the day or night as soon as they arrive off Gravesend. The Customs also
maintain a launch constantly on duty in this reach of the river, and it is here also
that the sea pilot hands over to the river pilot. Thus all three services are in close
touch with one another. The only criticism is that all these activities take place at
the extreme eastern limit of the Boarding Station, which may lead to some congestion
when there is a rush of shipping after fog. Consideration has been given to a scheme
whereby the Boarding Medical Officer would live in the Hospital during his tour of
duty. This would be an advantage in that there would always be a Medical Officer
at the Hospital; the cost of maintenance of the "Hygeia" would be saved; visual
signals from approaching ships would be more quickly and easily observed and there
would be less congestion at busy times. On the other hand, it would be very expensive
to construct at the Hospital a jetty at which the boarding launch could lie at any state
of the tide and in any weather, for it would be necessary to run out some 420 feet
from the shore, and the situation would be much more exposed than that of the
"Hygeia," close contact with the Customs would be more difficult to maintain and
the Port Sanitary Authority's Staff would be about a mile from Gravesend and so out
of touch with valuable sources of information in regard to the movements of ships.
When the boarding launch is undergoing overhaul the Medical Officers board
from the Customs launch and the up-river launch is sent down to Gravesend to enable
the Sanitary Inspector on the lower river district to carry out his duties and to remove
any cases of infectious sickness to the Port Sanitary Hospital. This means that the
Sanitary Inspector in the middle and upper river district has to do his work as best
he can without a launch. Up to the year 1915 the Port Sanitary Authority had three
working launches on the river. At the present time there are only two, though the
work to be done has increased, and it is desirable that the river district should be
again divided into three sections, each under the supervision of a Sanitary Inspector
with a launch at his disposal. The lower district from Purfleet to Thameshaven could
be worked by the boarding launch "Howard Deighton." The middle district from
Purfleet to Greenwich could be worked by the "James Howell," but when this launch
becomes unserviceable she should be replaced by a launch smaller than the " Howard
Deighton " but capable of being used as a boarding launch for the Medical Officers
when the "Howard Deighton" is out of commission. At the present time when the
boarding launch is laid up the Medical Officers must board from the Customs launch.
The Customs are most generous and courteous in giving every possible facility, but
they are required to hail and grant pratique to every incoming vessel from " foreign,"
consequently they frequently cannot stand by while the Boarding Medical Officer
inspects a number of passengers and a large crew or carefully examines cases of
sickness which may be of an infectious nature. It is not suggested that the Port
Sanitary Authority should attempt to be independent of the assistance of the Customs
Officers in this section of their work. such is neither desirable nor practicable, but it
is desirable that the Medical Officer should always have his own launch so that he can
have time to do his work thoroughly, without feeling that he is delaying the Customs
Officers and making it difficult for them to carrv out their own duties.
The boarding launch is not for the use of the Medical Officers only. During the
day she must, whenever possible, be handed over to the Sanitary Inspector so that he
can inspect ships lying in the lower river district. If ships which have to be boarded
arrive unexpectedly while the launch is away with the Sanitary Inspector, the Medical'
Officer is taken off by the Customs.
For the upper river district, from Greenwich to Teddington, a small launch is
required to convey the Sanitary Inspector to ships lying at wharves and to enable