A true and fair picture

As the hostilities of the Second World War were drawing to a close, a new conflict arose in a scientific journal that related to the frequency of illness in seamen as compared to other groups of workers. This was perhaps a reflection of the importance attached to this topic during the war, and also shows a move away from the earlier neglect of seamen's health by those in the maritime world to a new concern that any risks to their health might be exaggerated. Exaggeration would bring the dangers of public campaigns for reform – a threat to both government and shipowners – and this could in turn strengthen the hands of seafarers' organisations at a time when the nationalisation of industry and the benefits of a planned economy formed a large part of political debate.

An editorial published in the new British Journal of Industrial Medicine, a journal that was itself a product of the greater use of science to improve practice under wartime conditions, stated that the mortality rate of seamen from all causes of death was double that in the general population, while for tuberculosis it was four times higher. These figures were contested by several of the leading doctors working in the maritime industry, and this inaccuracy was discussed with Sir William Elderton, the deputy government actuary and a former statistical adviser to the Ministry of War Transport, who agreed that they were not supported by the evidence.