A medical officer examining a ship's crew for bubonic plague on arrival in the Thames. Watercolour drawing by F. de Haanen, 1905, after C.E. Eldred

C. E. Eldred

Lettering: Lettering, typed on a separate mount label, reads: "The examination of a ship's crew by the Port Sanitary Authorities on arrival in the Thames. F. De Harnen from a sketch made by C.E. Eldred, R.N. The medical officer on duty examines the crew for bubonic plague by looking at their tongues and feeling under their armpits for bubonic swellings. All cases of infectious diseases discovered or reported were transferred to the Port Sanitary Authorities' hospital on the riverside at Denton, near Gravesend. The ship was quarantined and disinfected."