OPERATION ON STEAMER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 288, 3 December 1923, Page 7

OPERATION ON STEAMER.

DURING PACIFIC VOYGE.

SALOON AS OPERATING THEATRE.

A successful operation on a seaman named L. Willis was performed on ! board the steamer Port Victor last Mon- I day, during the voyage from Liverpool to Auckland. When the vessel arrived at Auckland this morning, Willie, ; though not yet able to leave his bed, I was recovering rapidly. The operation, for an abscess just behind the ear, was performed by the ship's surgeon, Dr. Branegrove, who has just completed four years in England and is returning to New Zealand. Owing to the absence of an operating theatre on ' board -it was necessary to requisition the saloon for this purpose, and at 8 p.m. : on the 26th November, when the saloon chairs had been removed and the ealoon table converted into a temporary operating table, the operation was performed. A lady doctor, Miss E. 51. Hubbe, of Adelaide, who was a passenger, administered tUe anaesthetic. Owing to the fact that Dr. Bransgrove'e instrument* were being brought out by the steamer Kent, it was necessary to improvise chisels suitable for the purpose, and in this respect the ship's carpenter and chief engineer lent their assistance. The chief engineer and a passenger, Mr. B. Murray, assisted in the operation. Captain Swan caused the steamer's speed to be reduced for about two hours to steady Jier, the operation being completed by 9.30 p.m.