The theory and practice of hygiene : (Notter and Firth).

Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The theory and practice of hygiene : (Notter and Firth). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    1038/1080 (page 974)
    illness in the mercantile marine are unfortunately non-existent. How far these diseases and injuries prevail in the Royal Navy are shown in the foregoing Table, prepared from the Statistical Report on the Health of the Navy, and based on the average ratios for the eight years 1897-1904 and for the year 1905. Mercantile Marine.—That even this service has shared in the general reduction of death-rates which so peculiarly characterises this generation is shown in the following summary of the number and mortality of seamen employed in vessels registered in the United Kingdom under the Merchant Shipping Acts:— Year. Persons Employed. Deaths Reported. Death-rate per 1000. Year. Persons Employed. Deaths Reported. Death-rate per 1000. 1891 214,427 3039 14-2 1899 219,383 2857 130 1892 218,247 3320 15-2 1900 221,107 2735 12-4 1893 219,560 2678 12-2 1901 224,545 2781 12-4 1894 218,317 3143 14-4 1902 225,443 2625 11-6 1895 217,794 2938 13-5 1903 230,161 2385 10-4 1896 218,224 3067 141 1904 233,482 2252 9-6 1897 219,233 2633 120 1905 227,430 2096 9-2 1898 218,016 2193 101 1906 226,234 2036 9-0 The improvement in the rate of mortality shown in the foregoing Table is due mainly to reductions of deaths on steam-vessels. No returns are issued by the Board of Trade relative to non-fatal forms of sickness among seamen. The chief source of loss of life at sea is due to wreck, drowning, or accident. The exact proportions of these losses in the mercantile marine are shown in the following Table having reference to the year 1906. The figures indicate :— Class of Vessel. By Wrecks of, or by Casualities to, the Vessels. By other Accidents. By Disease. Total Losses by Death. No. of Masters and Seamen Employed. Death-rate per 1000 from Disease. Sailing (mercantile) vessels . 61 24 21 106 26,708 0-78 „ (fishing) 286 243 22 551 5,558 3-9 Steam (mercantile) ,, 308 333 643 1284 176,697 3-6 (fishing) 41 35 19 95 17,271 1-9 Total 696 635 705 2036 226,234 3-1 That in spite of the general unfavourable hygienic conditions which prevail in ships, the health of the mercantile marine, as evidenced by mere death-rates, is good. Two-thirds of the mortality among these men is due to casualties, the result of wrecks and other accidents.