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4. To examine the closets, heads and latrines.
5. To examine the quarters of the crews with reference to cubic space, cleanliness and ventilation.
6. To note the existence of any contagious or infectious disease and to report such cases
immediately to the Medical Officer.
7. To advise the officer in charge (if there be no medical officer attached to the ship) to send
all other cases of sickness to the nearest hospital, if they can be removed without danger to
life.
8. To note the existence of any foul cargoes and to note their descriptions.
9: To call the attention of the Medical Officer to all sanitary defects observed during each and
every inspection.
10. To direct the cleansing of all closets, forecastles, etc. in which sanitary defects exist and
to revisit such vessels to see if the directions have been carried into effect.
11. To fumigate and disinfect vessels and clothing as required and in the manner prescribed by
the Medical Officer.
12. To serve "Notices" only with the sanction of the Sanitary Authority or the Medical Officer.
13. To write out at the end of each and every working day, in an official book of forms prepared
for the purpose, an account of duties performed and to submit the same to the Medical Officer
for examination, in order that these reports may be laid before the Sanitary Authority at every
meeting.
At the end of 1873 there were no less than 47 Port Sanitary Authorities constituted by the
President of the Local Government Board. The establishment of these Authorities proved the
wisdom of the Registrar General's comments made in 1865.
The Public Health Act of 1875 reaffirmed the previous appointments of medical officers of
health and inspectors of nuisances. The Act empowered officers of the port sanitary authority
to board any vessel, outward and inward bound, at moorings or underway within the port limits;
also to remove persons suffering from any dangerous or infectious disorder.
During the first six months of that year the work of the Port Sanitary Inspector in London can
be gauged from the following figures:- Of the 3,566 vessels inspected, 440 required cleansing,
14 had foul cargoes and 151 sick seamen were found on board ships and referred to hospital by
the Inspector. In addition, alterations to ventilation on 32 ships were carried out. The discovery
of so large a number of sick seamen confirmed the opinion Dr. Leach had expressed some eight
years previously, that seamen should be medically examined before being employed.
The storage of water on board ship caused great concern. Polluted water was suspected of
being the cause of cholera and dysentery. Inspectors examined water supplies. Unfit water was
discharged overside and the water casks were unheaded, unhooped, then scalded, scraped and
cleansed.
The inspectors fumigated the returned personal effects of deceased British seamen who had
died abroad and at that time the Sanitary Authority required their seal to be attached to the
parcels of clothing after fumigation.
Monthly returns giving particulars of structural alterations which had been recommended and
carried out on British ships were sent to the Marine Department of the Board of Trade.
In the latter half of 1876 concern was expressed over the conditions on board "monkey barges"
which entered and sailed from the Port of London daily into the Grand Union and Regents Canals.
From Inspectors' visits to these barges, evidence was accumulated of gross overcrowding, 280 cu.
ft. only being available for habitation by families of three to seven persons of all ages and both
sexes. Because of the limited space, boys and girls from twelve to twenty-one years of age were
living together. As a result of representation to Parliament by Sanitary Authorities, the Canal
Boat Bill became law on the 1st January, 1878. These boats were then required to be registered
and a tighter control of living conditions could be enforced.
In 1880 the River Thames was so polluted as to be considered an open sewer. Officers of
the Sanitary Authority made a survey of outfalls. Of these, 384 which discharged into the District
were considered to violate the Rivers Pollution Act of 1876.
The Foreign Animals Order of 1881 imposed functions upon port sanitary authorities requiring
the cleansing and the disinfection of cattle ships and the disposal of manure. At this time
there was no legislation regarding the disposal of this and other foul cargoes of bones, fish manure,
refuse from glue factories, and sweepings from streets which moved freely about the ports in
barges. This refuse caused great concern to Sanitary Authorities.
Imported food inspection, which was subsequently to become one of the main responsibilities
of port health authorities, commenced in the Port of London in 1881. This year saw the principle
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