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Ships bound for London coming up the English Channel take on a Pilot off Dungeness, those
coming across the North Sea take on a Pilot at the Sunk Lightship, near Harwich. The Elder Brethren
of Trinity House have kindly agreed that Pilots should hand copies of the Declaration of Health to
the Masters of the ships they board and accordingly supplies of the Declaration of Health are sent,
from time to time, to Trinity House. In addition several of the larger shipping companies using the
Port are supplied, on request, with Declarations of Health which are placed on board their vessels
with other ships' papers.
The instructions on page 4 of the Declaration of Health (applying only to the Port of London)
are as follows:—
The Master of a foreign-going ship approaching a Port in England or Wales from a Foreign
Port must ascertain the state of health of all persons on board, and fill in and sign a Declaration
of Health in the prescribed form, which he must hand to the Customs Officer or to the Port
Medical Officer, whichever first boards the ship.
1. If the answer to any of the questions on page 1 is "YES" or if the ship, except in the
case of tankers, has called during the previous four weeks at any of the following ports :—
All Ports in Asia, including Turkey, India, Pakistan and Ceylon; Indonesia, the East
Indies, the Philippines, Formosa and Japan; Africa and Madagascar; Central America
including Mexico ; South America
the Master must:—
(1) Send a wireless message to "PORTELTH LONDON," stating the name of the
vessel and the time she is expected to arrive off Gravesend. This message must be sent off
not more than 12 hours, and not less than 4 hours before the arrival of the ship.
In the case of vessels bound for the Medway, the wireless message should be addressed
"PORTELTH LONDON," as follows:—
"(Name of Vessel) (Time of arrival) Sheerness."
Note.—If wireless is not carried, the Port Health Authority must be notified of the arrival
of the ship as soon as possible.
2. Radio Messages.
(a) Arrangements for sending permission by radio for ships to enter the district. (Regulation
13.) No change.
(b) Arrangements for receiving messages from ships and for acting thereon. (Regulation
14 (1) (a) and (2) ). No change.
3. Notifications otherwise than by Radio (Regulation 14 (1) (b)). No change.
4. Mooring Stations (Regulations 22 to 30). No change.
5. Arrangements for—
(a) Hospital accommodation for infectious diseases No change.
(b) Surveillance and follow up of contacts No change.
(c) Cleansing and disinfection of ships, persons, clothing and other articles No change.
BOARDING SERVICES—LAUNCHES AND STATIONARY CRAFT.
The most important responsibility of a port health authority is to be so organised as to prevent
the importation of specific infectious diseases and to suppress any ship-borne conditions capable of
spreading disease. The Public Health (Ships) Regulations 1952 imposes this responsibility in various
forms of prescribed action. From the foregoing it is clearly indicated that the state of health and/or
sanitary conditions on all types of vessels must be investigated and this can only be done by the
appropriate officers boarding the vessels. The vessels can be classified as one of the following groups:—
(а) Ships arriving which must signal for the attention of the Port Medical Officer (as laid
down in the Public Health Ships Regulations 1952).
(b) Oil tankers which are regulated by a special arrangement.
(c) Ships arriving from coastwise trade or overseas ports and are not required to signal
for the attention of the Port Medical Officer.
(d) Harbour craft and inland water transports.
The appropriate officers include the medical officers, sanitary inspectors and rodent control
inspectors.
Ships in category (a) and any others in need of medical aid are boarded by the medical officers.
All vessels are boarded when stationary somewhere within the Port by the sanitary inspectors and
generally by the rodent inspectors. The vessels which berth at one of the five major dock groups
and Regents Canal Dock can be boarded from the quay, but a considerable proportion of all the
vessels in the Port can only be reached by water transport. It is seventy miles from Teddington to
the seaward limits of the Port of London by river, a watercourse which has been divided into three
districts for purposes of port health administration and four launches have been provided to cover
these districts in conjunction with the medical officers boarding duty at Gravesend.
Two hulks are also provided, one as a boarding station for Gravesend and the other as a moorings
for two launches at Greenwich. The allocation is as follows:—
"Hygeia."
A strongly built steel hulk which is moored off Gravesend in close proximity to H.M. Customs
and Pilot headquarters. This serves as a boarding duty station for the medical officers and a base
for two launches, one of which is in continuous attendance on the medical officers while the other
serves the sanitary inspector of the Lower River district.
Commissioned 1935 Draught 14 ft.
Length 96 ft. Superstructure 70 ft. by 14 ft. by 8 ft.
Beam 25 ft. Main hold 72 ft. by 25 ft. by 8 ft.
Depth 21ft. Peaks 12 ft.
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