With the United States Merchant Marine at a low ebb and our over-seas commerce at a standstill many of the merchant ships registered in the United States are tied up at the wharves for lack of cargoes. There are many men holding licenses as officers qualified for duty on United States ships who are unemployed, so the opportunity for employment at this time in this service is limited.
The country, however, is beginning to realize the necessity of taking steps to regain our commercial supremacy. The President and Congress, as well as governors of states and mayors of seaport towns, are urging laws to amend the tariff, subsidies, wages, rules and regulations to improve our Merchant Marine, to make it more attractive and profitable. The result may be that large American concerns having their own fleets may find it advantageous to register them in the United States instead of under the flags of foreign countries.
Many firms engaged in the transportation of iron ore, oil, bananas, aluminum ore, and lumber have their own ships and terminals and employ men with a seagoing training. Municipalities in seaport towns employ men of this type for management of their facilities. Often we find that these companies or municipalities prefer men who have been at sea and who have a license as master, mate, or engineer, issued by the United States Department of Commerce.
There are few communities that furnish the type of men desired as licensed officers and this fact presents an opportunity for naval officers who may leave the service. Their education, training, and experience fit them to become licensed officers in the Merchant Marine.
This article is to outline the method of obtaining such a license:
Matters concerning our ocean and coastwise shipping are under the United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation, and Steamboat Inspection.
The Revised Statutes of the United States, passed by Congress, contain all the laws governing steamboat inspections.
These laws provide for a Supervising Inspector General, appointed by the President, by and with the advice of the Senate, to administer the affairs of the Steamboat Inspection Service (headquarters at Washington, D. C.). The Secretary of Commerce may appoint a Deputy Supervising Inspector General.
The waters and territory of the United States are divided into eleven districts at the head of which is a Supervising Inspector.
The Supervising Inspectors are also appointed by the President, by and with the advice of the Senate. They are selected for their knowledge, skill, and practical experience in the uses of steam for navigation. They must be competent judges of the character and qualities of steam vessels and of all parts of the machinery employed in steaming.
The Supervising Inspectors have their headquarters in various districts as follows:
First District—San Francisco, Calif.
Second District—New York, N.Y.
Third District—Norfolk, Va.
Fourth District—St. Louis, Mo.
Fifth District—Boston, Mass.
Sixth District—Louisville, Ky.
Seventh District—Pittsburgh, Pa.
Eighth District—Detroit, Mich.
Ninth District—Cleveland, Ohio.
Tenth District—New Orleans, La.
Eleventh District—Seattle, Wash.
Attached to the office of each Supervising Inspector are local inspectors of hulls and local inspectors of boilers. In addition there are assistant hull inspectors and assistant boiler inspectors, the number depending on the number of ports in the district and the amount of shipping. Examples—New Orleans has one local inspector of hulls and five assistants, one local inspector of boilers and five assistants, in San Francisco there are nine assistants for each class.
From time to time the Secretary of Commerce designates an inspector of hulls and an inspector of boilers to constitute a Board of Local Inspectors.
Each year in January, and at such other times as directed, the Supervising Inspector General and the Supervising Inspectors meet in Washington as a board for the purpose of revising their rules and acting on matters that require attention. Regulations adopted by them after their approval by the Secretary of Commerce have the full force of law.
The law also provides for an Executive Committee which under certain restrictions may be called on to meet at such times as ordered by the Secretary of Commerce. This committee, composed of Supervising Inspector General and any two Supervising Inspectors, also has power (with the Secretary’s approval) to alter, amend, add to, or repeal regulations made by the board; their action continues into effect until after the next meeting of the board.
The General Rules and Regulations prescribed by the Board of Supervising Inspectors are contained in bound pamphlet 801-A. They have been approved by the Secretary of Commerce, and under the provisions of the Revised Statutes have the full force of law.
A person making an application for an original license must do so on the regular Department of Commerce application form. This is filed in the office of the Local Inspectors where the application is made.
This form (886-a) provides for a personal description of the applicant, is attested to before a notary, and is signed by three individuals who testify as to the character of the applicant.
Upon receipt of satisfactory application, the local inspectors require the Senior Public Health Officer in the district to examine the applicant as to his physical condition. In addition to the regular physical examination, the applicant to be eligible must have a certificate from the Public Health Surgeon respecting his visual acuity and color sense. He must also present a certificate showing he has satisfactorily passed an oral examination based on the contents of Manual of Ship Sanitation and First Aid. This is similar to the instructions regarding first aid contained in the Landing Force Manual and the Bureau of Navigation Training Course for pharmacist’s mates.
Before an applicant for an original license or raise of grade of any license may be examined, it is customary for him to present to the inspectors letters certifying to the amount and character of his experience. If his character and his experience are satisfactory he may be given a written examination by a local board.
Any person who has served at least one year as master, commander, pilot or engineer, of any vessel owned or operated by the United States in any service in which a license was not required, is entitled to a license, if on written examination he is found qualified by a Local Board of Inspectors. This provided his experience has been, within three years of the date of application, such as to qualify him to serve in the capacity for which he applied for a license.
The application form mentioned above calls for a statement of service which includes types of vessels, tonnage, waters navigated, capacity in which served, actual length of service, and information regarding previous licenses held.
Naval officers will not ordinarily be able to furnish evidence of previous licenses or service on board merchant ships. Instead they should obtain from the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, a statement showing the ships on which they have served, the length of time on each, and the duty performed.
This statement is then attached to the application form.
An applicant for license as master of ocean steam vessels shall pass a satisfactory examination as to his knowledge of the following subjects:
(1) Latitude by polaris.
(2) Latitude by reduction to meridian (sun, moon, or star).
(3) Longitude by chronometer (sun, moon, or star).
(4) Position finding by two or more heavenly bodies out of the meridian.
(5) Position finding by dead reckoning.
(6) Great-circle sailing.
(7) Azimuth by altitudes of sun, moon, or star.
(8) Constructing deviation table by bearings of a fixed object.
(9) Chart navigation.
(10) Time of high water by calculation.
(11) Fuel conservation.
(12) Signaling by semaphore and blinker.
(13) Stability of hull construction.
(14) International Code Signals.
(15) International Rules of the Road.
(16) Life saving apparatus.
(17) Deviation and compass compensation.
(18) Ocean winds, weather, and currents.
(19) Instruments and accessories used in navigation.
(20) Aids to navigation.
(21) Seamanship.
(22) Chart construction.
(23) Ship sanitation.
(24) United States Navigation Laws.
(25) Rules and Regulations of the Board of Supervising Inspectors.
(26) Such further examination of non-mathematical character as the local inspectors may require. (Sec. 4439 RS.)
An applicant for a license as master should be familiar with the Revised Statutes, Title 40—Shipping.
In general this has to do with registration and recording, inspection, survey and measurement of ships, clearance and entry, discriminating duties and reciprocal privileges, regulations regarding carrying steerage passengers, transportation of explosives on passenger vessels, limitation of owners liability, log books, pilots and pilotage, officers and crew, vessels in domestic commerce, enrollment, license, passports and papers of vessels engaged in foreign commerce, vessels subject to inspection and regulation, duties of inspectors, mode, manner, and extent of inspections with certificates and records, transportation of merchandise and passengers. Regulations for life saving appliances, merchant seamen, shipping commissioners, shipping articles, wages, discharge, protection and relief of seamen, offenses, punishments, wrecks, salvage, suits in admiralty, shipping account, merchant marine account, sales and mortgages of U. S. vessels.
These items are covered briefly in the two pamphlets mentioned above.
If an applicant satisfactorily completes the written examination, his status is determined by the Local Board of Inspectors in the district in which his application is filed.
Qualifications Required for License of Engineer
The qualifications necessary for an applicant to receive a license as engineer is as set forth in detail, pamphlet 801-A, mentioned above, but in general no person shall receive a license who is not able to determine the weight necessary to be placed on the lever of a safety valve, the diameter of valve, length of lever, distance from center of valve to fulcrum, weight of lever, and weight of valve (steam being known) to withstand any given pressure of steam in a boiler, and who is not able to figure and determine the strain brought on the braces of a boiler With a given pressure of steam, the position and distance apart of braces being known, such knowledge to be determined by an examination in writing, and the report of examination filed with the application in the office of the local inspectors, and no engineer or assistant engineer now holding a license shall have the grade of the same raised without possessing the above qualifications. No original license shall be granted any engineer or assistant engineer who cannot read and write and does not understand the plain rules of arithmetic.
Pamphlet 801-A has been revised but has not yet been printed. The requirements set forth in the revision correspond with the advance made in recent years in engineering knowledge and practice.
There should be no halt in the work of building up the Navy, providing every year additional fighting craft. We are a very rich country, vast in extent of territory and great in population; a country, moreover, which has an Army diminutive, indeed, when compared with that of an! other first-class power. We have deliberately made our own certain foreign policies which demand the possession of a first-class Navy.... A good Navy is not a provocative of war. It is the surest guaranty of peace.—Theodore Roosevelt, December 2, 1902.