In 1866 a 43-year-old frigate, HMS Hamadryad, was towed from Dartmouth to Cardiff and fitted out as a hospital ship at a cost of £2,791.[1] The town's Medical Officer of Health, Dr Henry Paine, had identified the need for a seamen's hospital because of the many diseases that were brought to the docks by sailors from overseas.[1] A piece of waste ground in Cardiff Docks known as Rat Island was donated by the Marquis of Bute and the hospital ship opened for patients in November 1866. In its first year it admitted 400 patients and the free treatment was funded by a levy of two shillings per hundred tons of shipping at Cardiff Docks.[1] The hospital ship was to remain at this site until 1905, when a permanent hospital was opened. Hamadryad was refloated and towed away to be scrapped.[1]