Report of the Select Committee of the Senate of the United States on the Sickness and Mortality on Board Emigrant Ships.
(Fish, Hamilton).
( 1854), Washington DC
23 cm. 147 pp.
Price: $100
… the three diseases by which passenger ships have been chiefly scourged are… typhus, or ship fever… cholera, and small pox. This book addresses the “filthy, beastly, degrading condition of passengers and their berths… Under the present navigation laws of the United States, the matter cannot be remedied.” (p. 100) Without specifically referring to them, the report deals with the ills and possible remedies for the catastrophic “coffin ships” of the Irish famine, as well as poor conditions for Chinese immigrants. The text considers earlier laws and suggestions for repairing their obvious deficiencies in the form of reports from physicians, naval surgeons and other experts, and tables give annual death tolls for ships departing from European ports. Bound as issued in blindstamped cloth with gold cover lettering. Bookplate of Hamilton College Library on front paste down. A very good copy in a bright binding.
