Ships have often been a means of transmission for plague and pestilence. The Black Death travelled westwards by ship in the Mediterranean, infecting one port after another. The clipper Ticonderoga set out from Liverpool carrying Scottish migrants in 1852 but by the time it made Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, 200 were dead from pestilence. The likely cause was typhus.

Today we have our own special brand of plague ships, formally known as cruise ships. These vessels have been near the centre of the outbreak of Covid 19 since the Diamond Princess visited Japan a few weeks ago. Since then Australia has had it fair share of these behemoths with their deadly cargo, who in the old days might be better known as passengers. From coast to coast, the vast floating hotels are stranded, unable to dock, vilified by local authorities.

There was a time when going on a cruise had a kind of romantic and adventurous hold. This was when the ships were much smaller and the idea of a good book, a deckchair and a view of the ocean was sufficient. The were even portholes. Nowadays that charm has gone and the cruise companies cater to mass tourism. The Contagion of the Seas and her sister ships have taken a reputational battering recently from which they will likely recover. But many will probably never walk that gangway again.