In view of these documents I must maintain the request made in my letter of
yesterday, that the ship be liberated, and also hold the Imperial Japanese
Government responsible to the full extent for all the losses arising from
the detention of the ship.
I must emphatically repeat what I have said before, namely, that it is
impossible for me to subject German vessels to quarantine regulations, which
are manifestly insufficient, and the maintenance of which apparently by no
means realizes the object in view.
I have especially the honor to call Your Excellency’s attention to the
appearance of policemen On board. I must expressly guard against the
legality of such visits on board a German vessel, quite apart from the
circumstance that these policemen at the same time circulated freely on
other, perhaps infected, vessels.
Yokohama, 12th July,
1879.
This day the German steamer “Hesperia,” an iron ship, with accommodations
for eight cabin passengers (two to each cabin), and launched in 1875,
1,136 tons register, and on which, according to the captain’s statement,
cholera has never appeared yet, has been inspected by the undersigned,
after having been detained by the Japanese quarantine authorities in the
quarantine ground near Nagaura for the space of about twenty-four
hours.
The ship, which in her state-rooms, cabins, crew’s quarters,
between-decks, and lower ship’s hold is kept perfectly clean, well aired
and dry, and whose bilge-water is small in quantity, and, except a
certain greasy smell, quite without smell about it, has taken her last
provisions in Hong-Kong from the steamer “Eleetra” from Hamburg, her
cargo—piece goods—in Hiogo, and her ballast, consisting of stones and
sand which are perfectly dry, partly in Hong-Kong and partly in
Hiogo.
The drinking water of the ship comes from the usual place of supply in
Hiogo, Messrs. Domoney & Co.; the same, which is being kept in an
iron tank, is clear, colorless, and has no smell, and has, further, a
refreshing taste.
The closets, &c., are in a perfectly clean state.
There are on board one captain, 7 officers, among whom 3 engineers and
one assistant;
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6 sailors, 10
stokers, 1 ship’s boy, 8 cabin passengers, among whom two women,
further, three children.
The ship’s crew has been hired in Hamburg on the 7th December, 1878, only
one sailor having been hired in addition on the 8th January, 1879, in
Port Said.
The passengers, with the exception of one who took his passage in
Hong-Kong, have come on board, inclusive of the three children, in
Hiogo.
Their effects are kept partly in the cabins and partly in the
between-decks.
Nothing is known here of the prevalence of cholera in the ports where the
vessel called, except that according to the statement of the Japanese
authorities Asiatic cholera is said to prevail in Hiogo and its
neighborhood.
The ship arrived in Hiogo on the 13th June, and left that port on the
10th July, between 1 and 2 o’clock in the morning.
The ship’s crew, with the exception of four officers, who last were on
shore on the 15th June, and the captain, have not been on shore at
all.
Japanese or residents of Hiogo have only been on board for loading
purposes, at an average of 25 daily.
Nothing is known of illness having existed among the people.
In the shape of provisions, fresh meat, fowls, and vegetables were taken
on board at Hiogo, furnished by Domoney & Co.
During her voyage to this port, the ship has had comparatively pleasant,
cool, and dry weather.
The general state of health on board has, during the whole voyage, been
most excellent. There have especially been no cases of diarrhoea.
In Kobe the captain had no occasion to call in medical attendance.
The foregoing facts rest on depositions made by the captain, the crew,
and the passengers, whose attention has been drawn to the importance of
their statements, on the inspection of the persons on board, made with
the aid of the ship’s certificate and the captain’s statements, and on
the minutest inspection of the whole ship.
The captain has declared his readiness to take, on oath, all the
statements made by him.
The captain has lodged a complaint at the consulate in Yokohama about the
most rude behavior on the part of the police
officers sent on board, and about their communication with Japanese ships in the quarantine grounds and the shore,
by which he is exposed to the danger of cholera being carried on board,
and has verbally repeated his complaint.
If on one hand the total absence of cholera or diarrhea on board cannot
be taken as an absolute proof that cholera may not yet make its
appearance, on the other hand the certainty of cholera not appearing
will not be enhanced by a further detention of the vessel during four
days, according to the belief of the undersigned medical officer.
He is further of opinion that, judging from the present state of the
ship, there is neither an imminent danger nor the likelihood of danger
that cholera may be carried to Yokohama if the ship in question should
go there at once.
The undersigned—the Consul and the medical officer—have not been able,
after inspection of the quarantine arrangements, and after the
information they were able to receive on the spot, concerning the manner
in which the quarantine regulations are beng carried out, to arrive at
the conviction that either the arrangements made, or the measures taken,
have the least likelihood of attaining the desired object.
- DR. GUTSCHOW,
Surgeon in Chief of
the German Naval Hospital,
at Yokohama, and
Oberstabsarzt.
- Zappe,
Imperial German Consul.
