The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-14
AT GUARANTEE

Captain Watson. Of the Steamship Hawk
hurst, Gives his Expersence ut the New
Quarantine Seation-They Were Cleaned
for Once
A Messenger representative had the
pleasure yesterday OF calling on Cap
tain Watson on board the British
steamship Hawkhurst which has a
berth at the Champion Compress where
captain is a fine specimen Of the Eng
.ssh shipmaster. and is ruddy. robust,
rotund. jolly and sporty. He has a
keen sense of humor and tells an anus
ings story Of his experience at quaran-
tine at Southport. In fact, he has his
experience written down in his log
book, mixed up with humorous inter-
j~ections here and there. The captain
weighs $50 pounds and when he talked
or read from his log book, his face was
out Of shape with humor n he shook
with laughter. Here, in brief, is what
he tells:
The Hawkhurst arrived at Southport
August 23rd from Rio Janeiro by way
Of San Lucia. AS a matter Of course, as
he came from a yellow fever port, he
had to go to the quarantine station two
miles up the Cape Fear from South
port. He had a clean bill Of health
from the United States consul and the
American marine surgeon at Rio, and
had no sickness on board when he ar
rived at Southport. He hauled up at
quarantine and at 3 q. m. the quaran-
tine officials commenced to fumigate
his ship, while the yellow flag was
flying, denoting that the ship was at
quarantine. For three days the fumi-
cation process went on and the job was
finished at 3 p. m. on the Goth. The fu-
migation was commenced by requiring
all hands to go on deck. The holds of
the vessel were sealed, the quarantine
hose was attached and the fumes from
1900 pounds of sulphur were pumped
into each hold, one at a time, for twelve
hours. They were hen fastened up
for another twelve hours with the
fumes in them. Sulphur fires were burn
&c in the officers berths and they were
closed up for twenty-four hours. The
forecastle was closed and was fumi-
gated and closed for twenty-four hours.
The galley was closed and fumigated
t~wenty-four hours with sulphur fires.
The men had to sleep on deck in the
dew and when the holds were opened
at night to let out the fumes they fled
from the fumes into the rigging, the
small boats, the awnings, etc. The cap
tain fled to the boats davit and in the
the poop awning and smashed him
self up. A lot of the men were asleep
on deck and those who were awake
had to arouse them, fearing they would
be stifled. The holds were then thor
oughly washed out by fluid thrown
into them by hose that reached every
nook n corner. After the fumiga-
ton every stitch of the mems clothing
had to be taken ashore and spread out
on the wharf, but the men did not
know their clothing-they had "swunk
up" The captains white fiannels had
turned brown, and while they had
comfortably fit his 1S-inch neck and
his 4S-inch chest, they had dwindled
down so that the chief officer, Mr.. H. A..
Pretty, with a 3Ss chest, fell heir to
them. Mr.. Pretty showed us a pair Of
his gloves, which he said he intended
to place in the British museum. They
had drawn up into a knot and looked
like a mummy's hand-a child mummy
at that. All the leather at the bottom
of the mems trousers had been de-
| stroyed, the leather and. steel buckles
| and ~fastenings Of their braces had been
eaten up, the mems caps shrunk to the
| size for kids" and Old Harry had
been played generally.
After the clothing had been fumigat-
| ed, the men were required to take an
annual bath. While the quarantine
| officers watched to see that they did it
] we'll. They then put on the fumigated
| clothes, SO those that they pulled
off could go into a cage to be disin-
| fected. After all this, the ship was
| detained at anchor five days and the
men were not allowed so much as to
land a small BOAT for a fish on the
shoals. When the five days were up,
the quarantine officer came on board,
examined the men and then gave the
ship practique. The yellow flag was
joyfully pulled down, the green flag
went up and the ship came on to Will
mington.
In his log book Cautain Watson
makes this entry: cat $50 a. m. the
customs officers came oar and were
going to seal the matches in case we
should have any stowaways in the
holds. My, Golly, fancy ~stowaways af-
ter using 1900 pounds Of sulphur to
make fumes to pump into the holds!
My, Goliy, it would require a coro-
ner'S inquest for he would be a dead