ing use of motor-boats and numerous accidents resulting therefrom, led to the passage of the act of June 9, 1910 (36 Stat. L., 462), known as The Motor-Boat Act, the content of which was summarized in the preceding chapter. But the operators of such boats have experienced considerable difficulty in interpreting the exact application of this law, and the Supervising Inspector-General has urged its repeal, and the substitution of a statute "worded in terse, simple language that can be easily understood, not only by the officials of the department but by the public as well." Section 5 of the Motor-Boat Act requires that every vessel propelled by machinery and not more than sixty-five feet in length, except tug-boats and tow-boats propelled by steam, "shall carry either life-preservers or life-belts, or buoyant cushions, or ring-buoys or other device, to be prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce, sufficient to sustain afloat every person on board and so placed as to be readily accessible." All motor-boats carrying passengers for hire are required to carry one life-preserver, of the sort prescribed by the regulations of the board of supervising inspectors, for every passenger carried.

(4) Steam-vessels, navigating rivers only, except ferryboats, freight-boats, canal-boats and towing-boats, of less than fifty tons, are subject to detailed regulations as to the character, number and construction of life-boats. Such vessels carrying passengers are required to provide a good lifepreserver for every cabin passenger and also a good life preserver or float for each deck and other class passenger which the inspector's certificate shall allow her to carry including the officers and crews, such life-preservers or floats to be kept in convenient and accessible places on such vessel in readiness for immediate use in case of accident.

(5) Every barge carrying passengers, while in tow of any steamer must also be provided with such life-preservers as shall be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors. By an act approved May 28, 1908 (35 Stat. L., 424), sea

going barges of one hundred gross tons or over are required to be equipped with at least one life-boat, and at least one life-preserver for each person on board, such to be approved by the board of supervising inspectors.

The sinking of the passenger steamer Titanic, and the loss of life involved, led to the calling of the "International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea." This conference, which was held in London from November 12, 1913, to January 20, 1914, was participated in by representatives of the principal maritime nations of the world. The purpose of the conference was to formulate rules regarding safety of life at sea which would be of universal application. The convention concluded on January 20, 1914, was signed by the representatives of all the nations parties thereto, and the results of the conference were submitted to the President and Congress by the American delegates, one of whom was the Supervising Inspector-General of the Steamboat-Inspection Service, with favorable recommendations.5

The Senate failed to ratify the convention, but practically all of the recommendations as to life-saving equipment made by the International Conference, however, which constituted a large and important part of the convention, were embodied in the Seamen's Act approved March 4, 1915 (38 Stat. L.,

5 The Commissioner of Navigation, also a delegate to the conference, in his annual report for 1914 said in this connection: "The international convention is the most important step ever taken by maritime nations to promote the safety of life at sea, and it is to be trusted that the Senate will consent to its ratification before December 31, 1914, when ratifications, by the terms of the convention, were to be deposited at London. The convention was ratified by the German Reichstag in May, and the British Parliament passed on August 10 the bill to give effect to the convention. Before the outbreak of the European war in August the preliminary steps for ratification had been taken in France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and Hungary, and at that time ratification was expected in the early autumn. The Parliaments of Denmark and Sweden do not assemble until early in 1915, so those powers can not ratify until that date. The war will undoubtedly delay until beyond July 1, 1915, the time when the convention shall go into effect, but legislation by Congress will be necessary after the convention shall have been ratified".

1164), the contents of which were noted in the preceding chapter.

Steering Apparatus. The present law provides that every steamer carrying passengers shall be provided with such tiller ropes, tiller rods, or chains for the purpose of steering and navigating the vessel, and such bell-pulls for signalizing the engineer from the pilot house, and such tubes or other arrangement to repeat back the signal to the pilot house, as may be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce.

Fire-fighting Equipment. (1) Every steamer carrying passengers or freight must be provided with suitable pipes and valves attached to the boiler to convey steam into the hold and to the different compartments thereof to extinguish fire, or such other suitable apparatus as may be prescribed by the regulations of the board of supervising inspectors, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, for extinguishing fire in the hold and compartments thereof by the introduction through pipes into such hold and compartments of carbonic acid gas or other fire-extinguishing gas or vapor. Precautions to be taken to prevent fires from stoves, chimneys, and boilers are prescribed, and the local inspectors are authorized to require all other necessary provisions to be made throughout such vessel to guard against loss or danger from fire, before granting a certificate of inspection.

(2) Passenger steamers are required to have on board ready for use steam and hand fire-pumps of a certain number and capacity, varying according to the number of passengers carried and the character of the freight on board.

(3) All such other provisions must be made on every steamer carrying passengers or freight, to guard against and extinguish fire, as may be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors and approved by the Secretary of Commerce.

(4) The board of supervising inspectors may require steamers carrying either passengers or freight to be provided with such number and kind of portable fire-extinguishers as,

in their judgment, may be necessary to protect such vessels from fire when moored or lying at a wharf without steam to work the pumps.

(5) Steam-vessels navigating rivers only, and barges carrying passengers while in tow of any steamer are required to have such fire buckets, axes, and water barrels, kept in convenient places and ready for use, as may be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors.

(6) Section 6 of the Motor-Boat Act of 1910 provides that every motor-boat and also every vessel propelled by machinery other than by steam, more than sixty-five feet in length, shall carry ready for immediate use the means of promptly and effectually extinguishing burning gasoline.

With the exception of Section 5 of this act, which, as was noted above, provides that the Secretary of Commerce alone shall determine what life-saving appliances shall be carried by motor-boats, both the board of supervising inspectors and the Secretary of Commerce must approve all instruments, machines, and equipment for the better security of life to be used on any steam-vessel. To this end, the board of supervising inspectors frequently conducts tests to determine the value of such new appliances as may be invented from time to time, and prescribes standards, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, to guide the local inspectors in their inspection of such equipment. Whenever any inspector or assistant inspector, in the performance of his duty, finds on board any vessel subject to regulation, as part of the required equipment thereof, any equipment, machinery, apparatus, or appliances not conforming to the requirements of law, he is authorized to require the same to be placed in proper condition by the owner or master of the vessel, if possible; and if the inspector or assistant inspector finds on board any such vessel any life-preserver or fire hose so defective as to be incapable of repair, he is given power to order it to be destroyed in his presence by such owner or The local inspectors have power to enforce these re

master.

quirements by revoking the vessel's certificate of inspection, and refusing to issue a new certificate until the requirements have been fully complied with, or until such action of the local inspectors shall have been reversed, modified, or set aside by the supervising inspector of the district."

Certificates of Inspection. The issuance of a license or certificate of inspection by the local inspectors, as evidence that all the provisions of law relative to the inspection of the hulls, boilers, and equipment of vessels have been complied with, also had its beginning as an activity of the SteamboatInspection Service in the early act of 1838. The present law on this subject provides in part as follows:

When the inspection of a steam-vessel is completed and the inspectors approve the vessel and her equipment throughout, they shall make and subscribe a certificate, which certificate shall be verified by the oaths of the inspectors signing it, before the chief officer of the customs of the district or any other person competent by law to administer oaths. Such certificate shall be delivered to the master or owner of the vessel to which it relates, and one copy thereof shall be kept on file in the inspector's office and one copy shall be delivered to the collector or other chief officer of the customs of the district in which such inspection has been made, who shall keep the same on file in his office. If the inspectors refuse to grant a certificate of approval, they shall make a statement in writing and sign the same, giving the reasons for their disapproval.

The law further provides that a temporary certificate be issued to the master or owner of the vessel to take the place of and be a substitute for the regular certificate of inspection until the latter is delivered. No vessel required to be inspected under the provision of the law shall be navigated

6 Such other provisions of law requiring, in the equipment of vessels, suitable accommodations for the comfort and convenience of passengers and crew, and those requiring signal lights, foghorns, and whistles to prevent collisions will be reviewed later in this chapter under their proper headings.