Merchant Shipping Act 1894

Section 293.

ELEVENTH SCHEDULE REGULATIONS AS TO THE ACCOMMODATION FOR STEERAGE PASSENGERS.

Construction of Passenger Decks.

(1) The beams supporting the passenger decks shall form part of the permanent structure of the ship. They shall be of adequate strength in the judgment of the emigration officer at the port of clearance, and shall be firmly secured to the ship to his satisfaction.

(2) The passenger decks shall be at least, one inch and a half thick, and shall be laid and firmly fastened on the beams continuously from side to side of the compartment in which the steerage passengers are berthed.

(3) The height between that part of any deck on which steerage passengers are carried and the deck immediately above it shall not be less than six feet.

Berths.

(4) There shall not be more than two tiers of berths on any one deck. The interval between the floor of berths and the deck immediately beneath it shall not be less than six inches. The interval between each tier of berths and between the uppermost tier and the deck above it shall not be less than two feet six inches.

(5) The berths shall be securely constructed and of dimensions not less than six feet in length and eighteen inches in breadth for each statute adult, and shall be sufficient in number for the proper accommodation of all the steerage passengers contained in the lists of passengers by this Act required to be delivered by the master of the ship.

(6) No part of any berth shall be placed within nine inches of any watercloset erected in the between-decks.

(7) All male steerage passengers of the age of fourteen years and upwards (except those who occupy berths with their wives) shall to the satisfaction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance be berthed in the fore part of the ship in a compartment divided off from the space appropriated to the other steerage passengers by a substantial and well-secured bulkhead without opening into or communicating with any adjoining steerage passenger's berth, or, if the ship is fitted with enclosed berths, in separate rooms.

(8) Not more than one steerage passenger, except in the case of husband and wife, or females, or children under the age of twelve years, shall be placed in or occupy the same berth.

(9) Berths occupied by steerage passengers during the voyage shall not be taken down until forty-eight hours after the arrival of the ship at the port of final discharge, unless all the steerage passengers have voluntarily quitted the ship before the expiration of that time. The master of the ship shall alone be liable to a fine for breach of this regulation.

Hospitals.

(10) Sufficient space shall be set apart in every emigrant ship for use exclusively as a hospital for the steerage passengers, properly divided off, to the satisfaction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance.

(11) The space set apart for a hospital shall be under the poop or in the round house, or in any deck house which shall be properly built and secured to the satisfaction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance, or on the upper passenger deck, and not elsewhere.

(12) The space so set apart shall contain not less than eighteen clear superficial feet for every fifty steerage passengers whom the ship carries; and shall be fitted with bed-places, and supplied with proper beds, bedding, and utensils to the satisfaction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance, and shall throughout the voyage be kept so fitted and supplied.

Privies.

(13) Every emigrant ship shall be provided to the satisfaction of the emigration officer at the port of clearance with at least two privies, and with two additional privies on deck for every one hundred steerage passengers on board, and in ships carrying as many as fifty female steerage passengers with at least two waterclosets under the poop or elsewhere on the upper deck to the satisfaction of the emigration officer for the exclusive use or women and young children. The privies shall be placed in equal numbers on each side of the ship, and need not in any case exceed twelve in number.

(14) All such privies and waterclosets shall be firmly constructed and maintained in a serviceable and cleanly condition throughout the voyage, and shall not be taken down until the expiration of forty-eight hours after the arrival of the ship at the final port of discharge, unless all the steerage passengers quit the ship before the expiration of that time.

(15) The master of the ship shall alone be liable to a fine for breach of the regulations as to privies.

Light and Ventilation.

(16) Every emigrant ship shall be supplied with such provision for affording light and air to the passenger decks as the circumstances of the case may, in the judgment of the emigration officer at the port of clearance, require, and if there are as many as one hundred steerage passengers on board shall be supplied with an adequate and proper ventilating apparatus, to be approved by such emigration officer and fitted to his satisfaction.

(17) The steerage passengers shall have the free and unimpeded use of the whole of each hatchway situated over the space appropriated to them, and over each such hatchway there shall be erected such a boobyhatch or other substantial covering as will, in the opinion of the emigration officer, afford the greatest amount of light and air, and of protection from wet, which the case will admit.