The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-20
Havana Ballast.


At the meeting Of the Citizens Sanitary
/ Association on Wednesday night Col.
| Screven read an interesting extract from
one Of the weekly sanitary reports sent out
/ by the marine hospital service. The extract
was from a report to the state department
( by Dr. Burgess, the United States sanitary
| inspector at Havana. \ communication
was received by the marine hospital service
which contained the following statement:
Havana vessels loading for Americ an ports
after May have little to bring except fruit
and cigars, and take in sand ba last at times
at the yellow fever hospital wharf. This
sand is discharged at the ports, aud the hot
sun of July and August will develop
naturally the disease. All seaports are in
terested, and quarantine does not met the
emergency" This was sent to DR.. Burgess
for report. Under the date Of Jan. . ne
replied, and, among other things, he said:
Il would say that if | interpret the docu-
ment correctly, it chronologically refers to
period Of 1876 and l817-s me years be-
fore there was an United States sanitary
inspector appointed at this port. However,
| was living here at that time, and know
and early summer months of the year 1876,
bound for Savannah, took in for ballast the
most Objectionable and dangerous ma
terial, dirt etc, scraped up from a
level with the water of the harbor
and saturated with the filth of surrounding
Misunderstanding ia which there was
sickness at the time. These vessels sailed
from here and in due time arrived at Sa-
vannah / was informed whore that ballast
vas discharged and of the circumstances
attending the first cases Of yellow fever,
which preIuded the fearful epidemic at that
place in 1876 and my own personal belief
has been, and is now, that that epidemic
was caused by that ballast which was car
ried there in those vessels 1 have under
stood that for several years past, vessels
for Savannah, with ballast from this place,
are made to discharge it near the sea and
entirely away from any population
Oae Of the theories of the origin Of the
yellow fever here in 1876 is that it was
brought here by Spanish vessel having
ballast from Havana. 1t is said that the
ballast was discharged at the Savannah,
Florida aud Western railway wharves, and
was used in raising the level of the ground
near the wharf at which the vessel was
moored. The first cases Of the fever in 1876,
It was alleged, were among people who
worked at these wharves
Dr.. Burgess says that since 1880 he has
not known vessels bound for ports in the
United States to take such excessively bad
ballast as that which they took in 1876. 1t
seems, however, that all the ballast at the
wharves Of Havana is bad, and DR.. Burgess
says there is class of vessels, some of
which 20 to ports in the United States, which
still take it. They are mostly Spanish barks
or ships. Dr. Burgess says that he does not
know Of hospital wharf" in
Havana but that there are
hospitals near the Havana wharves in
which there are sometimes yellow fever
patients Many of the sewers of the city
discharge into the hirbor beneath the
waarves and there IS not sufficient current
to carry the sewage beyond the danger
point. DR.. Burgess exp esses the opinion
that the safer course W Iuld be never to
permit any Havana ballast to be discharged
near any population south Of the Delaware
capes, and it is a very sound opinion. If
our health authorities are wise they will
act in accordance with it.