Quarantine : return to an order of the honourable the House of Commons, dated 5 August 1861, for : copy of the papers relating to quarantine, communicated to the Board of Trade on the 30th day of July / Edgar A. Bowring.
- Edgar Alfred Bowring
- Date:
- 1861
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Quarantine : return to an order of the honourable the House of Commons, dated 5 August 1861, for : copy of the papers relating to quarantine, communicated to the Board of Trade on the 30th day of July / Edgar A. Bowring. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![to enable a judgment to be made of the hygienic and sanitary state of the vessel during- the voyage; and in case of its not being good, the vessel is subjected to extra quaraa- tine. 2. On the 17th July 1859, the United States schooner Republican arrived at Cadiz from Huron, in the State of Ohio, with a cargo of staves for Candia, but having no bill of health, she was ordered to Vigo or Port Mahon to perform quarantine before she could enter the port. The master was advised by some person at Cadiz to go to Tangier, as arrivals therefrom were only subject to three days' quarantine. He did so, and reached. Tangier on the 20th; but on the circumstance being known there, he was ordered away, and he then proceeded to Vigo, where he arrived on the 9th of August.. A quarantine of only three days was imposed, and this he rode out in the bay. 3. On the 23d Sejrtember 1859, the English schooner Azorian arrived herefrom Teneriffe, having sailed from London for that port with a general cargo; she was sent from Teneriffe to Vigo to perform quarantine, on a report that the cholera prevailed in London. 4. On the 10th October 1859, the English ship Golden Age, from Old Calabar for . Liverpool, with a cargo of palm oil, put into this port with 10 feet water in her hold, and the crew exhausted. Although she had been 56 days at sea, having no bill of health, she was ordered to the lazaret to perform 10 days' quarantine. The master was obliged to embark 40 men to work her i^umps. 5. On the 20th October 1859, two English vessels the Estreraadura and the Georgiana, put in here in consequence of heavy gales. Both were from Glasgow, the one bound for Oporto and the other for Seville, and they had clean bills of health duly certified by the Portuguese and the Spanish consuls. The former Avas at once admitted to pratique, but the latter was put in quarantine for three days in consequence of the Spanisk consul having annexed to his certificate this note: The cholera has disaj^peared from this port, and from others comprised in an area of 90 miles, and all vessels are admitted to free pratique, although coming from infected ports, provided there be no sickness on board. 6. On the 10th November 1859, the Peninsular mall ship Eliora arrived here from Southampton, whence she sailed on the 7th with a clean bill of health, on which the Si)anish consul had made a note that the steamer La Plata had arrived at South- ampton from St. Thomas, and that, although there had been two deaths on board from yellow fever on the passage, she had been admitted to free pratique. The Eilora was therefore considered as having a foul bill of health, and was not allowed to communicate. The same measures were adopted towards the steamer Euxine, which left South- am])ton on the 17th November, and arrived here on the 21st; and toAvards the steam&r Tagus, which left Southampton on the 27th, and arrived here on tlie 2d December; although this vessel brought a certificate from the Spanish consul that Southampton was free from all contagious or epidemic diseases, and that precautionary measures were adopted at Southampton as regarded infected ports. All these steamers were admitted to free pratique at Lisbon, and brought clean bills of health duly and favourably countersigned by the Spanish Consul General at Lisbon ; but were nevertheless, and contrary to the health regulations, refused pratique here, on the plea that they came from Southampton, and had not performed quarantine at Lisbon. The Tagus, which arrived here from Lisbon on the 8th December, and the Sultan on the 16th, were both refused pratique, even contrary to express orders sent from Madrid by the Spanish Government. During the whole of the above-mentioned period, the Vigo Board of Health was admitting to free pratique 'the French steamers from Lisbon furnished with bills of health similar to those brought by the Peninsular steam packets, and knew that our steam packets were in free communication at Lisbon, but they kept our steamers in quarantine during their short stay here, and obliged the workmen sent on board to perform quarantine at the lazaret. In contrast to the practice adopted towards healthy British steamers, Mr. Brackenbury cites the case of a Spanish steamer which arrived at Vigo on the 29th of April 1860 direct from Ceuta, with a battalion of Spanish infantry; and although it was publicly known that the cholera was then prevalent in Africa, yet she was admitted to pratique immediately on her arrival. During the Avhole of the winter of 1859-60, while the cholera was raging in Africa, and it was well-known that the Spanish army suffered severely from the distemper, having lost, according to public report, as many as 10,214 of its number, yet all vessels arriving from Ceuta or Tetuan with sick and wounded on board have been freely admitted to pratique in the ports of Spain, whilst at some, as at Malaga and Alicante, English arrivals from England have been subjected to three days' quarantine. Mr. Brackenbury alludes to the circumstance that the lengtli of the voyage is not taken into consideration as regards the imposal of quarantine : a steamer arriving from the Havanna in 17 days, and a sailing vessel in 53 days, are each subjected under like circum- stances to an equal quarantine. With respect to the lazaret, I v/ill only say, that such is the conduct of the officials, that Spaniards themselves have made repeated complaints to the Govcriimeut at Madrid. So](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b23984843_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
