[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.

[2] The Marquis of Bute, on his death in 1900, bequeathed £20,000 towards the cost of the new building and this was augmented by additional subscriptions of £12,000 and the proceeds of a bazaar, which raised £4,400.

[3] A brand new hospital building was constructed in red brick, stone and terracotta immediately to the west of the ship site, designed by E.W.M.