Section 13

Section 13. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall be the duty of the port physician, upon receiving information from the health officer or other person whomsoever, that any person or persons on board of any ship or vessel in the port of Philadelphia, is or are afflicted or suspected to be afflicted with any pestilential or contagious disease, or that there is just cause to suspect that the cargo or any part thereof contained in any such ship or vessel is infected with any such disease, the said physician, in either of the foregoing cases, shall visit and carefully examine such ship or vessel, and if he shall discover any sick person or persons on board any such ship or vessel, he shall thereupon have and exercise the authority to direct such sick person or persons to be removed to the said Lazaretto, or to some other safe place which may be specified by the board of health. And said physician shall without delay, report the state of said vessel, cargo and crew, to the board of health, who shall direct and determine how the crew, passengers, vessel and cargo, shall be disposed of and managed, for the restoration of their health and purification. And on the arrival of any ship or vessel in the port of Philadelphia, from any foreign port or place from the first day of October in any year, to the first day of June in the next succeeding year, it shall be the duty of the said physician, provided such ship or vessel shall not have been previously visited and examined by the physician resident at the Lazaretto and quarantine master, and before any of the passengers, crew, cargo or baggage are landed, to visit and carefully examine such ship or vessel in manner and form as the said Lazaretto physician and quarantine master are bound to do, and to demand answers under oath or affirmation, to be administered by the said port physician, who is hereby empowered to administer the same in conformity with this act. And if the crew, passengers, vessel and cargo be in a healthy state, and if there shall be no ground to suspect that any of the crew or passengers have died in the voyage of any dangerous contagious disease, the small pox and measels excepted, or that the cargo, bedding or clothing is infected, then and in such case, the said physician shall give to the master or commander a certificate of the facts, which the said master or commander shall present at the health office within twenty-four hours after such examination, and if he shall neglect so to do, being thereof legally convicted under this act, he shall be sentenced to pay a fine of two hundred dollars, to be recovered and appropriated as is herein provided and directed. And if on examination any suspicion shall arise in the mind of the said physician, touching the health of the crew or passengers, or the infectious state of the vessel, cargo, bedding or clothing on board, no part thereof shall be landed, but the said physician shall immediately report the same to the board of health, who shall direct and determine what measures shall be pursued relative thereto. And the said physician, upon request of the health officer or the board of health, shall from time to time visit and examine such houses and persons as the said board, or the health officer, shall have reason to suspect are infected with any dangerous contagious disease, and make report thereof to the said health officer. And every ship or vessel so as aforesaid arriving at the port of Philadelphia, shall be visited by the port physician previously to her being hauled to any wharf within the city or district aforesaid, or Wind Mill island; and every captain or other person, so hauling such ship or vessel to any wharf as aforesaid, shall, for each and every offence, forfeit and pay the sum of two hundred dollars, to be sued for and recovered as herein provided, unless it shall be made appear by such captain or other person that there was at the time imminent danger of the loss of such ship or vessel, or of the passengers or crew thereof.