Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 2.djvu/216

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We shall therefore be glad to receive an answer from you before the ship comes alongside the wharf, whether the passengers elect to return to India at the Colony’s expense or to endeavour to force a landing against the thousands of men who are ready and waiting to oppose their landing.

Yours truly,
(Sd.) HARRY SPARKS
CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEE

(APPENDIX B)

Copy
[January 22, 1897]

By this public instrument of protest, be it hereby made known and made manifest unto all whom it may concern that, on this the twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, before me, John Moore Cooke, of Durban in the Colony of Natal, Notary Public, and in the presence of the subscribed witnesses, personally came and appeared Francis John Raffin, Master Mariner and Commander of the steamship Naderi, of the burthen of 1,168.92 tons or thereabouts, and of 160 nominal horse-power, belonging to the Port of Bombay and now lying in the inner harbour of this Port, who did solemnly declare and state as follows, that is to say:

That the said steamer, laden with a cargo of general merchandise and carrying 350 passengers, left the Port of Bombay on the 30th [28th?] day of November last and dropped anchor in the outer anchorage of this Port at noon on the 18th day of December, 1896.

Before leaving Bombay, the crew and passengers were inspected and counted and a bill of health and port clearance was granted.

Throughout the voyage, the passengers and crew were free from sickness save the saloon cook who suffered from swollen feet but who, on being examined on the 19th December by the doctor, was reported to be suffering from a complicated disease of the liver and kidneys of which he died on the 20th December, and upon arrival here, the said appearer handed to the Health Officer of this Port the usual documents as to the health of all on board, and in reply to the said appearer’s enquiries, the Health Officer informed him that the said vessel would be placed in quarantine for five days in order to made 23 days from the time of leaving the Port of Bombay. On the following day the decks, passengers’ and crew’s quarters were washed and disinfected.

On the 20th December, the decks, passengers’ and crew’s quarters and the ship were washed down and thoroughly disinfected fore and aft.