CO885-5 — Page 550

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

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CO. 885/5 PUBLIC RECORD

OFFICE, LONDON

See also

pp. 7 & 8.

48

VENTILATION.

Of course the great object to be attained is to secure free entrance for fresh, and free exit for foul, air, at the same time avoiding direct draughts upon the people. With cowl. hended ventilators fitted with the proper diffusers, before described, this can generally be done by turning the mouth of the cowl on the windward side to, and on the lee side from, the wind; but when a ship is on a wind, and the mouth of a cowl on the lee side would face into the belly of a large sail, such as the mainsail, &c., it must be turned from it or a cross current will be established; for the same reason the lee flaps of air-shafts and hatches, or the curtain at the latter, will have to be let down. Management of the ventilation requires at all times close attention, but at no time so much as when the ship begins to move after calms under the sun,--when the temperature begins to fall rapidly on crossing the Tropic of Capricorn going out of the tropics, -and when it begins to rise as rapidly in approaching the tropics from the south. These are the most sickly times in the whole voyage, as the Surgeon Superintendent will find by watching the state of his sick report, with the sole exception of the time when the ship is lying in the Doldrums and there unfortunately it is the want of ventilation that is the cause of mischief. It is wonderful how well coolies, as a general rule stand the cold in the higher latitudes, from 30° to 45° South, and this, in my experience, is the healthiest time of the voyage, if due care is taken to secure the greatest possible amount of warmth for them, especially during the night, compatible with a fair amount of ventilation, and to seize every opportunity of having the 'tween decks thoroughly aired when the weather admits of the people being on deck even for an hour. Again, in wet weather ventilation is difficult, as many of the openings for air will have to be closed or turned to leeward, and the people will perforce be below; however with attention and the exercise of his common sense, the Surgeon Superintendent will get along very fairly, and he can hope that these times will not last very long.

* DAILY LIFE ON BOARD SHIP

Should be reduced as much as possible to a regular system as, for instance :-

Six to seven a.m.-People rise, fold up their blankets, &c. and hang them on the rows of bamboos laahed along the stanchions on the coolie-deck, Sirdars seeing that this is Only the merest outline of a plan can be given as hours, &c, must be changed according to the latitude the ship is in.

properly done, and no blankets or other trumpery left lying about the deck or platforms; Bandlarries going to galley to cook breakfast; Topazes sweeping off main-deck, flushing and disinfecting the closets, and filling the tubs, under the direction of the second Compounder: first Compounder goes round the coolie deck, finds out and collects the sick, and sends them on quarter-deck; hospital attendants clean out Hospital and Dispensary, and get milk and extra and hospital diets ready.

Seven an.-Surgeon Superintendent sees the sick on the quarter-deck, and visits the hospital, the galley, to see that the Bandbarries are at work, and cooking going on, and the main-leck generally, to see how it and the channels have been cleaned, and looks round the people generally, who ought all to be on deck, accompanied by the second Compounder; the first Compounder prepares and administers the medicine ordered for the sick; Topazes clean and sweep off the coolie deck. A little before eight a.m. a sample of the food for breakfast is brought by the Second Compounder, attended by the head Bandharrie, to the Surgeon Super- intendent, who examines it to see if it is properly cooked, and either sends it back to the galley, or, if satisfied that it is thoroughly cooked, orders the Bandbarries to remove it from the boilers.

At 8 a.m. Compounders go to breakfast, leaving directions with the sirdars to send all the people below and topazes to sweep off and clean the main-deck and again flush and disinfect the closets. When their breakfast is finished, the first Compounder issues the hospital and extra diets, milk, &c., on the quarter-deck, while the second Compounder superintends the issue of breakfast to the Sirdars, Band- harries, Topazes, and other men getting extra food. When this has been done, the general issue commences, women and children on one side of the main-hatch (I make it the lee), and the men at the other, one of the Compounders being at cach side, the Sirdars and Bandbarries assisting at the issue, and the Topazes being below sweeping off the coolie-deck. Exactly the same routine is observed at dinner-time when the Sur- geon Superintendent has seen the food, and declares it properly cooked, and between these meals the men and women, on alternate days, are exercised, and after this is finished, a full gang of men is employed in cleaning down the coolic deck. This should be completed by noon, and reported to the Surgeon Superintendent, who will go down and inspect it. As soon as dinner is over the people go down below, and the main-deck is washed down, as formerly described, from poop to forecastle--the Bandharries clean out the galley—and

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56132.

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Reference :-

C.O.

885 5 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO