Friday, 6 March 2015

List of Ships in Quarantine in Lyttelton Harbour 1863-1900

Quarantine was first enforced in 1863 with Camp Bay after the unfortunate arrival of of a couple of sickly ships.  The Chariot of Fame in January 1863 with low fever and whooping cough and the Huntress with scarlet fever onboard and inadequate containment, causing it to spread on land.  Click here for the immigration commissioners report on the Huntress published on 2 May 1863 in the Lyttelton Times.  And in July it was noted that small pox was raging in London.

Camp Bay was chosen in about August 1863 as it had fresh water, a deep bay with easy access and was sheltered from the prevailing winds (not exactly true as it got the easterly).  Buildings were built in 1863 at the cost of 1000 pounds, with 112 pounds for employing a man to look after the grounds.  Click here.  The buildings were described as "superior accommodation" for the immigrants.  Later on these buildings were described as not even fit for animals!  And two years later in 1865 they fell down in a strong wind!  They were called an absolute failure in the newspapers.  A year later in June 1866, what was left of the buildings was blown away in another gale!  In November that year it was commented that what was left (if anything) were unfit for humans.  Luckily there were no more ships put in quarantine in 1866.

Another article suggests the barracks were just about burnt down in a grass fire way back in the day (date not mentioned).  A woman shovelled earth and saved the barracks from going up in smoke!

For the regulations and procedures for the Harbourmaster from 1863 click here.  They make for interesting reading noting what the questions were for the Captains of the immigrant ships.

The expenses of quarantine were great and it was proposed that a charge of 5s per passenger coming into the province be enforced to offset the cost.  Costs included staff, buildings, food etc.

It was March 1869 before the Provincial Government decided to do away with Camp Bay and it was noted that they had nowhere if a ship with small pox or other disease was to arrive in Lyttelton Harbour.

It was 1872 before an advertisement appeared regarding timber for the new Quarantine Barracks.   This was on Ripa Island (now called Ripapa Island).  These buildings were finished by late July 1872. although another article states April 1873.  It appear that in March 1873 they had a feeling that the Edwin Fox would have disease break out on it, due to too many passengers on board for the size of vessel.  It was therefore mentioned that the buildings needed to be completed asap.  It turns out disease did break out!
If you want to know all there is to know about the character of the island and it's buildings, click here for an interesting article.  A similar article can be found in the rival newspaper.  Mr John Edwin March was appointed superintendent of the quarantine station at this time.

The exact area of the quarantine station is mentioned in the following article.  And tenders accepted for different supplies such as potatoes and firewood in 1873 can be found here.

The new quarantine barracks must have been of interest to those in Christchurch with excursions organised on a steamer to visit them as well as other sights around the harbour.

In October 1874 it was announced that Camp Bay was no longer to be used (it sometimes housed healthy families whilst the very sick stayed at Ripa Island.) On 16 Feb 1875 Quail Island was proclaimed a quarantine area.  Soon Quail Island had new buildings and the island being large, was considered the best ever for the immigrants, seeing they had rights to roam the whole island.

A tragedy occurred in November 1878 when the keeper of the Quail Island Quarantine Station, Mr Charles Hancock, had a boating accident and drowned.  His body was never found.

A discription of the buildings in 1880 reads: "The quarantine island is a noticeable feature, it lies away to the South side of the harbour, and in the distance, with its barracks, and cottages, and other buildings, looks exactly like the ornaments one sees on cakes sometimes in confectioners' windows. A nearer acquaintance which, happily, I did not make, would doubtless dispel the illusion, and take away any romance which imagination now attaches to it."

 In 1881 Quail Island was going to be used for a sheep quarantine island and tenders were sort for fencing to be put up.  There was also a new jetty built for loading cattle from ships.  Cattle were also to be quarantined there, probably after the major problems with pleuro-pnemonia in Canterbury.  In 1882 there was the fear of hydrophobia being introduced and dogs were also to be quarantined on Quail Island.

In October 1884 it was noted that in the event of a much feared small pox epidemic then a quarantine camp would be set up at the North West side of Quail Island.   Small pox had reached New Zealand now, having been in Australia for a year or so already.  Ripa Island was also seen as a great site for quarantine with "every soul" of every ship being checked as they came into the port to avoid an outbreak.

An article a few years later stated that Camp Bay was the ground for small pox burials in the early days.

In October 1884 it was put forward that Ripa Island was the perfect spot for defending the Port of Lyttleton and that a battery should be built there.  And by July the next year it was noted that quarantine was not needed like it used to be.  In September 1886 the big guns were going in and the old quarantine buildings had been disassembled and taken to Quail Island.

Click here for a photo of the buildings at Quail Island in 1911.

Camp Bay

1863 Alhambra

26 August Penalties for breach of quarantine

1863 Accrington

1863 Captain Cook

Response to Dr Clutterbuck's letter

1863 Victory

1863 Lancashire Witch 

(buy my book on the Lancashire Witch for more detailed information)

24 October Lancashire Witch
14 November The Lancashire Witch

1863 Brother's Pride 

(buy my book on the Brother's Pride for more information)

1864 Indian Empire

21 April Gratuities to be paid

1864 Ivanhoe

1865 Blue Jacket

The Story of the Blue Jacket (a great summary) 
Deaths and a message in a bottle!
Article on special constables
 A letter to the editor
A letter to the editor by "Smallpox"
A letter from Captain White
Letter from the surgeon
 Great poem on the Blue Jacket quarantine situation
Camp Bay buildings destroyed by weather and not suitable for Blue Jacket emigrants
Only single men allowed on shore due to state of buildings
Passengers in good health
Visitors to the quarantine ground allowed
A passenger testimony
Another passenger testimony
A Saloon passenger testimony
A Pilot Station needed at the Lyttelton Heads
Ship and saloon passenger released from quarantine but not other passengers
Charges against the crew
No proper medical inspection before ship left England
Letter from the First Mate
The Blue Jacket, a wool ship, departs

1865 The Tudor

25 September Another article and passenger list for the Tudor
14 October In quarantine for one day

1869 Caroline Coventry

10 June In quarantine for only a few hours!

Quail Island & Ripapa Island

1873 Punjaub 

1874/1875 General summary of ships quarantined NZ wide

1874 Phoebe 

(immigrants on board from the Mongol which was in quarantine at Otago)

2 March Passengers put in quarantine

1874 City of Glasgow

23 March City of Glasgow in quarantine

1874 Northampton


6 June Report on the Northampton
8 June Another report on the Northampton
9 June Modified small-pox reported
11 June patient update
13 June Two new cases of modified small-pox
22 June Quarantine update
22 June Two new cases
29 June single men taken to Camp Bay
29 July Passengers released from quarantine at Camp Bay
29 July Immigrants taken from Camp Bay to Christchurch
8 August 100 passengers released
8 August Biggs takes a fall
10 August Thomas Biggs inquest
10 August passengers all released

1875 Rakaia

1875 White Rose

Report on 1875/76 quarantine cases - reasons very light

1876 Countess of Kintore

1876 Jessie Osborne

1877 Cardigan Castle

1877 Mangerton

5 May Mangerton in quarantine
7 May Mangerton in quarantine
11 May Fever patient to be sent to Ripa Island
11 May Similar report on the Mangerton
14 May Seamen with fever landed at Ripa Island
17 Mangerton released from quarantine

1878 Waitangi

14 October Waitangi put in quarantine
15 October Waitangi report
15 October Huge report on the Waitangi
15 October Letters to be forwarded
19 October No new cases have occurred
22 October Nosegays sent to passengers
24 October Most passengers released
24 October Passengers bound for Timaru and Ashburton cheer

1878 Marlborough

1879 Opawa

1879 Northern Monarch

1 February Northern Monarch placed in quarantine
3 February Northern Monarch Report
3 February  Another report on the Northern Monarch
3 February Report on Northern Monarch
4 February Two deaths on Ripa Island
6 February Visit from health and immigration officers
8 February Saloon passengers landed and ship released

1879 Lyttelton Orphanage

13 December Orphanage uses Quail Island facilities for diphtheria patients

1880 Westland

23 February The Westland quarantined
23 February Westland report
24 February Westland report
26 February No new cases
1 March No new cases
2 March Ship released from quarantine
4 March Scarlatina case
8 March Some passengers released (names listed)
8 March names listed
12 March The Westland released from quarantine

1880 Waimate

25 February Waimate from London in quarantine
25 February Slocum and Jones families on Ripa Island
26 February No new cases
1 March No new cases
2 March Ship released from quarantine

1880 S.S. Norfolk

14 June S.S. Norfolk put into quarantine
14 June S.S. Norfolk
14 June Yet another article
15 June Smallpox or chickenpox?
15 June Only chickenpox and steamer to be released

1880 Maori Prisoners held at Ripa Island

10 September Maori prisoners from Parihaka

1881 S.S. Wakatipu

22 June Family with measles sent to Ripa Island
22 June Hay family with the measles
8 July Hay family out of quarantine
14 July Family continues on with Wakatipu to Dunedin instead of staying in quarantine.

1882 Loch Cree


1883 Clansman


From about 1883 onwards I can't find any more quarantined ships mentioned in the newspapers.  There are many reports however of Quail Island housing sheep, dogs and cattle as well as some reports of birds up until 1900.

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Sunday, 1 March 2015

Camp Bay Quarantine Ground - A Healthy Spot?

Dr Donald, the health officer at Lyttelton in 1863, thought that Camp Bay was a healthy spot for immigrants but this turned out to be completely wrong as the site was exposed to the cold easterly winds and was a horrible place to live.  It was more conducive to ill health than regaining ones health.   It also was not quite "out of the way of mischief," as he mentioned below.  When the ship Brother's Pride arrived in late 1863 the quarantined passengers became so bored they ran over the hill and stole crates of booze that had been delivered to a neighbouring farm.  Naughty!

Check out my other posts on Camp Bay Quarantine site by searching on the right hand side of my blog.

 The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 1863. Various causes have been assigned, in different quarters, for the prevalence of low fever in Christchurch during the autumn that is now coming to a close. Most people are however agreed that a considerable share of the illness which has prevailed is to be attributed to the want of due precautions in the introduction of immigrants after a long voyage. Persons have in a few cases been allowed to land and go at once to Christchurch, with fever still hanging about them while all the immigrants have been allowed as they liked to carry off with them, unwashed, to any part of the country to which they were bound, the linen and clothes used during the voyage. Now, putting the fever cases out of the question, it is evident that the importation by every immigrant ship of a mass of foul clothes into a town still undrained, and rapidly increasing in population, is of itself quite sufficient cause for the aggravation of any illness that may be prevalent. The population of Christchurch will probably double in the next few years the immigration will double too; our precautions against the increase of fever and other illness must be more than doubled, seeing that what precautions are now taken have but little effect in the way of checking the mischief. We believe that the Town Council of Christchurch are considering the questions of drainage and water supply. If they are not, they ought to be considering them for the grants of the Provincial Council to promote street making and surface drainage were passed with the understanding that the town would take the more important business in hand without delay. But while the Town Corporation are attending to what is strictly their duty, we must turn to the Provincial Government to draw their attention to the urgent necessity of regulating with more method the monthly introduction of closely packed immigrants after a long voyage. Some time ago we urged the advisability of placing the management of our immigration, so far as relates to shipping, in the hands of her Majesty's Commissioners, leaving to our own agent iu London the task of selecting the immigrants and collecting them at the port of embarkation. These duties together with the equally important ones of giving information concerning the colony to persons visiting the office at Charing Cross, and of answering the innumerable letters addressed to the agent, are more than sufficient to occupy his time. As it is now he is over-worked and obliged at the same time to neglect much that might be attended to with advantage. We have not a staff sufficient in London to manage efficiently the whole business of sending out emigrants; and in the shipping department we suffer especially. If it were not for the ability and zeal shown by Mr. Marshman, the heavy increase to our immigration began last year would have made the deficiencies in our system very apparent. Still there are defects in our shipping arrangements which no agent can remove, and which have induced both Mr. Fitz Gerald and Mr. Marshman to recommend the transfer of this portion of our immigration business to the Emigration Board. "We have already enumerated the principal advantages to be gained by such a transfer, and the better chance the immigrants would have of health and comfort on board ships chartered by the Commissioners and under the charge of their officers. There is one detail in their system of administration, the want of which in ours has of late been especially brought under our notice. At the depots in England where Government emigrants are collected before they embark, an officer is appointed whose duty it is to examine the outfits of the intending passengers and to see that each person has a sufficient stock of linen and other clothes. "Without a sufficient supply, no one is allowed to embark. This is a most necessary precaution, and it may be certainly set down that a great share of the illness on board the emigrant ships arriving here is due to the very scanty supply of clothing with which too many people are allowed to sail for the colony. Want of warm clothing in the cold weather, and above all want of a sufficient supply of linen and under-clothing are sufficient to bring on all the illness we ever hear of in these ships at sea. As soon as an immigrant ship arrives in Lyttelton harbour, strict measures should be taken to prevent all unnecessary communication with the shore until all danger of importing fever is removed. In no shape can it be more conveniently imported than in that of dirty clothes and bedding. It has been suggested by some that the dirty clothes used on the voyage should be burned. But this would be a costly and wasteful system, besides being probably ineffectual. Such a regulation as this would be most certainly evaded. A far better plan, which would effectually remove all such danger as can be provided against, has, we believe been suggested by Dr. Donald, the health officer in Lyttelton. There is a reserve at Camp Bay, an isolated spot with plenty of good running water, for a quarantine ground. It is proposed to build Immigration Barracks there, with every accommodation for washing on a large scale, and to enforce a week's quarantine on the passengers of every immigrant ship. In this time they might recruit after the voyage, wash and air their clothes and blankets, and then be transported without any danger directly to Christchurch, or any other locality to which they may be destined. The buildings used as barracks at Lyttelton I will not be available much longer; and as barracks must be built somewhere on the harbour, it would be a good plan to make the buildings erected do duty as quarantine quarters and washing establishment. Camp Bay is a healthy spot —out of the way of mischief—and offers great facilities for carrying out so useful a system of quarantine. The plan is well worthy of the attention of the Government.
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1863 Quarantine Regulations for Lyttelton Harbour

Below is a copy of the quarantine regulations for Lyttelton Harbour, Christchurch, New Zealand, as published in the Lyttelton Times dated 5 September 1863.  This was when Camp Bay was the newly appointed quarantine site.  The list of questions for the ship's captain is very interesting!
CAUTION. NOTICE is hereby given that no person will be allowed to board, or quit, any vessel arriving from any port or place beyond the Province until the Quarantine Regulations now in force have been duly complied with. 
The penalties in case of an infringement of the regulations will be most strictly enforced. By order of his Honor the Superintendent, THOS. WM. MAUDE, Provincial Secretary. Provincial Secretary's office, Christchurch, September, 2,1863. 
The following are the regulations now in force 
1. The Master of every vessel arriving at any harbor which shall be deemed by the Harbor Master to be liable to Quarantine shall, on being directed so to do by the Harbor Master, cause the same to be anchored in the Quarantine ground appointed for the Harbor, or forfeit and pay for every such offence the sum of one hundred pounds. 
2. The Master of every vessel so anchored shall neither himself quit, nor permit any seaman, passenger, or other person to quit the same until he shall have been duly admitted to pratique, or forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds. 
3. Every seaman, passenger, or other person so quitting shall, for even such offence, forfeit the sum of twenty pounds. 
4. Every vessel so anchored is to hoist a yellow flag, of not less than six breadths of bunting, at the main by day, and a light by night in a lantern such as is used in her Majesty's Navy, and to keep the same respectively hoisted until released from Quarantine, or forfeit the sum of twenty pounds. 
5. The Master of every vessel so anchored is to deliver to the Harbor Master or other authorised person his bill of health, manifest, log-book, and journal; and he is to All up a report in the manner pointed out in the Schedule A annexed. 
6. The Master of every vessel so anchored who shall suffer any goods, wares, or merchandize, packets, books, letters, or other articles to be unshipped or landed, and any person or persons who shall be concerned in the unshipping or landing of the same, shall forfeit for each and every article so unshipped or landed the sum of twenty pounds. 
7. Every person or persons who shall knowingly receive any goods, wares, or merchandize, packets, package, baggage, books, or letters, or any other article whatever from-any vessel so anchored shall forfeit for each and every article the sum pounds. 
8. Any person going within the limits of any Quarantine Station when any vessels shall be there at anchor performing Quarantine shall forfeit any sum not exceeding twenty pounds. 
9. If any officer or person entrusted with orders respecting Quarantine shall in any way neglect his duty, he shall forfeit for such offence the sum of twenty pounds. 
10. The Harbor Master shall immediately after his having so anchored any vessel, report the same to the" Resident Magistrate and Health Officer, or to the person or persons acting or appointed to act for those functionaries. 
11. The Resident Magistrate and Health Officer or Medical Practitioner to be appointed from time to time for that purpose by the Resident Magistrate, shall, upon the receipt of such report, visit the vessel so anchored, and if they shall find that any sickness of an infectious or contagious nature exists, or shall have then recently existed on board of her, they shall submit the information to a Board, consisting of the Resident Magistrate, one or more Justices of the Peace, the superior Officer of the Customs of the Port, the Health Officer, or Medical Practitioner as aforesaid, and one or more legally qualified Medical Practitioners nominated for this purpose by the Resident Magistrate, such Board to be convened by the Resident Magistrate, which Board, or the majority of them, shall have authority to detain such vessel in Quarantine until every symptom of the aforesaid disease shall have disappeared, and until sufficient time to prevent the spread of such disease shall, in the opinion of the Board, have elapsed since the last case disappeared, when the same Board, or the majority of them, have hereby power to release such vessel from Quarantine and admit her to pratique. 
12. During the period any vessel may be in Quarantine, the Resident Magistrate and Health Officer shall visit her alongside from time to time and institute such regulations as the nature of the case may demand, and the Master or Commander shall carry such regulations into effect, or forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty pounds. 
POWER TO RESIDENT MAGISTRATE IN CERTAIN CASES. The Resident Magistrate at any port for which no Harbor Master is appointed shall have all such powers as are hereinbefore given to Harbor Masters. All penalties hereby imposed shall be recoverable in a summary way. 
SCHEDULE A. Questions required to be answered by the Master or other person in command of any ship or vessel arriving in the Port of Lyttelton from any infected place. 
1. What is the tonnage of the vessel and her name? —Answer. 
2. What is the Master's name, and are you the Master?— Answer. 
3. From whence do you come, and when did you sail?— Answer. 
4. At what port have you touched on your passage?— Answer. 
5. What vessel have you had intercourse or communication with on your passage, and from whence did they come? —Answer. 
6. Have you any, and what bills of health? Answer. 
7. Did the cholera or any other highly infectious and dangerous disease prevail at the place from which you sailed, or at any of the places at which you have touched, or on board of any vessel with which you have had communication; if so, state when and where?— Answer. 
8. In the course of your voyage have any persona on board suffered from sickness of any kind? What was the nature of such sickness, and when did it prevail? How many persons were affected by it, and have any of them died in the course of the voyage?—-Answer. 
9. What number of Officers, Mariners and Passengers have you on board?— Answer. 
10. What was the number of persons on hoard your vessel when you sailed?— Answer. 
11. What is the whole number of persons now ill on board your vessel?— Answer. 
12. If there be no sickness now on board, when did the last attack of disease appear, and when did it entirely disappear?—-Answer.
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