of disinfecting apparatuses (chambers) on board the vessels of the three categories mentioned above.
In regard to plague, he shall likewise take account of the installation on board of apparatus for the destruction of rats.
The health authorities of nations which may deem it suitable to reach an understanding on this point may excuse from the medical inspection and other measures those uninfected vessels which have on board a physician specially commissioned by their country.
Art. 30. Special measures may be prescribed in regard to crowded vessels, especially emigrant vessels or any others presenting bad hygienic conditions.
Art. 31. Any vessel not desiring to submit to the obligations imposed by the authority of the port by virtue of the stipulations of the present convention shall be free to put to sea again.
It may be permitted to land its cargo after the necessary precautions have been taken, viz:
- 1. Isolation of the vessel, crew, and passengers.
- 2. In regard to plague, inquiry as to the existence of an unusual mortality among the rats.
- 3. In regard to cholera, the discharge of the bilge-water after disinfection and the substitution of good drinking water for that stored on board the vessel.
It may also be permitted to land passengers who so request, upon condition that they submit to the measures prescribed by the local authority.
Art. 32. Vessels hailing from a contaminated port which have been disinfected and subjected to sanitary measures applied in an efficient manner shall not undergo the same measures asecond time upon their arrival in a new port provided that no case has appeared since the disinfection took place and that they have not touched at a contaminated port in the meantime.
When a vessel lands only passengers and their baggage, or the mails, without having been in communication with the mainland, it is not to be considered as having touched at the port.
Art. 33. Passengers arriving on an infected vessel shall have the right to demand a certificate of the health authority of the port showing the date of their arrival and the measures to which they and their baggage have been subjected.
Art. 34. Coasting vessels shall be subjected to special measures to be established by mutual agreement among the countries concerned.
Art. 35. Without prejudice to the right which governments possess to agree upon the organization of common sanitary stations, each country shall provide at least one port upon each of its seaboards with an organization and equipment sufficient to receive a vessel, whatever may be its sanitary condition.
