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Sow-mounted smokestacks have not yet become o feature of merchant ship design, so something is definitely amiss in the photo at left. The bow belongs to one ship and the stack to another with which she has recently collided. Rules of the road have a similar sense of confusion in this country. They started out in the form of a unified set, then diverged on a number of different paths. This month, those paths finally come together again.
Laws governing admiralty matters probably go back to the time vessels first plied the seas. As the years passed, navigational customs were established and applied within their separate spheres of influence. On the Island of Oleron in the 12th century, Eleanor of Aquitaine became interested in the various customs that prevailed among seafarers. She was the most famous woman of her day, Queen of France, and later, Queen of England.
She had the maritime customs put in writing. The resulting Laws of Oleron are generally regarded as the first written code of admiralty laws the world had known, except for some fragments of Rhodian Law in 900 B.C. The 12th century code dealt with the master, crew, cargo, anchorages, liability, Wages, contracts, punishment, fishing and pilotage, among other things, and could be severe in its impact. Regarding pilots failing to perform their duties, Rule 23 said in part:
“If a Pilot undertakes the Conduct of a vessel . . . and fail of his Duty therein,. . . and the Merchants Sustain Damage thereby, he shall be Obligated to make full Satisfaction for the same, . . . and if not lose his Head.”
These rules, and the later Laws of Wisbuy, and Consolato del Mare, determined many of the admiralty controversies of the time. Although they were quite extensive for that purpose, they did not address the problems of avoiding collisions. Vessel- to-vessel encounters were haphazard at best, with no required duties between vessels approaching one another.
In the United States prior to 1838, there were no statutes or rules requiring the carrying of signal lights, although the admiralty courts generally held that in the case of collision when one vessel carried a light and the other did not, the darkened vessel would be treated as the wrongdoer. This was one of a number of rules developed by court cases designed to prevent collisions that developed as the result of “custom and practice” of pilots because of a lack of any other established national laws.
Congress took note of these decisions and passed the Act of 1838, the primary purpose of which was to assure better security for the lives of passengers on board vessels propelled by steam. It also required that every steamboat running between sunset and sunrise had the duty to carry one or more signal lights that could be seen by other boats navigating in the same waters. No mention was made of color or brightness, nor where or how such lights should be located on the vessel. In 1849, Congress passed a more definitive law which required lights for sailboats and also for power-driven vessels. This act stated in part:
“. . . steamboats and propellers shall carry on the stem, or as far forward as possible, a triangular light, at an angle of about sixty degrees with the horizon, and on the starboard side a light shaded green, and on the larboard side red; said lights shall be furnished with reflectors, &c., complete, and of a size to insure a good and sufficient
light----- ” ,
During the years of 1810 to 1850, after Robert Fulton ushered in the commercial possibilities of steam navigation, there were recorded on the U. S. river system a total of 1,070 accidents resulting in
the total destruction of the vessels involved. During this time, more than 4,000 persons lost their lives on board steamboats. Many of these vessels were destroyed by fires and boiler explosions, but 45 were lost because of collisions.
In this period of the early 1800s, local navigation rules were enacted by numerous cities and states in response to the many casualties. Naturally, this created navigational nightmares for mariners since there was often no consistency among local rules. The proliferation of accidents, as well as the federal courts having held state navigational safety laws void except with respect to vessels on strictly intrastate voyages, finally led to the sensible conclusion that it was necessary to take federal action.
A series of disasters in the 1840s eventually led to congressional passage of the Steamboat Inspection Act of 1852. Generally, this act set forth stringent equipment, cargo inspection, and licensing criteria for steamboats and crews. It also set up a Board of Supervisory Inspectors under the Department of Treasury and required that there be established . such rules and regulations to be observed by all such vessels in passing each other, as they shall from time to time deem necessary for safety.” The resulting pilot rules formed the first U. S. system of passing signals for vessels on inland waterways.
In 1858, the board issued a set of Rules and Regulations for the Government of Pilots which required the use of whistle signals to indicate the intent in meeting, crossing, and overtaking, as well as for navigating in fog, and around blind bends, and also such sound commands to indicate danger. Meanwhile, the British Parliament in 1846 had given the crown authority to issue regulations governing the prevention of collisions. Though individual special statutes were enacted prescribing rules for specific areas and cases, no uniform or multinational code was established until 1863 when Great Britain and France implemented similar rules which would go into force in their waters. A copy of these rules was sent to other maritime countries noting that it was important to establish consistent rules, without distinction of flag or of place, and having the force of international maritime law.
In response to this action, a bill similar to the English code was introduced in the House of Representatives in early 1864. It was duly passed and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on 29 April of that year to become effective on 1 September. For the first time, the United States, along with other nations of the world, had a set of rules for preventing collisions at sea. These rules were applicable on the high seas as well as on inland waters. They were in addition to the rules for preventing collisions on inland waters authorized by the Act of 1852.
Although extensive in the requirements of lights and the conduct in meeting situations, these first
international rules still did not provide for whistle signals, except for sounding a steam whistle at intervals of not more than one minute when under way in fog or thick weather. For vessels meeting head-on, each was to alter her course to starboard so that she would pass to the port side of the other. This right-hand rule has always been the international nautical code, although it is interesting to observe the English rule of the road, on land, is to go left even though England pioneered the international maritime laws.
These statutory rules of 1864 applied to all vessels in all waters and stayed in effect until the congressional enactment of the International Rules of 1885 which were limited to the high seas and coastal waters. (The 1864 rules remained in effect on our inland waters.) The new international rules finally recognized that a vessel “may” use sound signals to indicate change of course. These internationally used signals were those of “action” wherein a vessel would alter course after sounding her whistle. Signals of “intent and reply” were used on U. S. inland waters to indicate which side a vessel intended to pass another, which in turn was answered by the other vessel with a like signal if in agreement.
The 1885 rules had some inconsistencies which were revealed by various judicial decisions. In response, Congress authorized the appointment of delegates to an International Marine Conference which met in Washington, D. C., in October 1889. The members adopted new rules which became law in the United States by an act of Congress in August 1890, to go into effect by presidential proclamation. The 1890 international rules finally legislated mandatory whistle signals for course changes. But the rules were still unsatisfactory, so further amendments were enacted before President Grover Cleveland’s proclamation formally made the code effective as of 1 July 1897.
Meanwhile, Congress had enacted into law on 8 February 1894 rules for preventing collisions upon the Great Lakes and their connecting tributary waters as far east as Montreal. The Bureau of Navigation on the Great Lakes reprinted verses which pilots committed to memory:
For Two Steamers Meeting End On Or Nearly End On
Meeting steamers do not dread When you see three lights ahead!
Port your helm and show your Red.
For Two Steamers Passing
For steamers passing you should try To keep this maxim in your eye.
Green to Green—or Red to Red—
Perfect safety—go ahead.
For Two Steamers Crossing. This Is The Real Position Of Danger. There Is Nothing For It But Good Lookout, Caution And Judgment
If to Starboard Red appear,
’Tis your duty to keep clear;
Act as judgment says is proper,
Port, or Starboard—back, or stop her!
But when on your port is seen A steamer with a light of Green,
There’s not so much for you to do—
The green light must keep clear of you.
All Ships Must Keep A Good Look Out, And Steamships Must Stop And Go Astern, If Necessary.
Both in safety and in doubt,
Always keep a good look out;
Should there not be room to turn,
Stop your ship and go astern.
Though not entirely in accord with the present statutes, these verses still hold a great deal of common sense today.
Just before implementation of the new international rules, Congress recodified the rules for inland waters, excepting the Great Lakes, the Red River of the North, and the waters emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. These rules went into effect on 1 October 1897. By this action, the original Unified Rules of the Road enacted in 1864 now applied to only the Red River of the North and rivers emptying into the Gulf. These became known by various admiralty writers as the “Mississippi Valley Rules,” or the “Gulf-River Rules,” but they are now more commonly known to most mariners as the “Western River Rules.”
In 1929, an international convention on safety of life at sea convened in London. Among other issues, changes to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea were discussed, and a complete revision was submitted to the membership. These changes were never given favorable treaty action by our Senate, nor were they ever ratified by the world’s maritime nations.
Soon after the start of World War II, the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation was transferred to the Coast Guard for the duration of the conflict. This action gave the Coast Guard the authority to issue and supervise navigation laws and pilot rules. The Coast Guard’s authority in this area became permanent in 1946.
Another convention on safety of life at sea was called in London in 1948 and resulted in new international rules effective in 1951. These rules addressed several navigational problems, including navigating seaplanes on water, formalizing the orders to the helmsman (which had informally been agreed to by all maritime nations in 1935), and adding a blind bend signal. Also, the so-called “danger”
or “doubt” signal made its first international appearance, although its use was not mandatory.
Nine years after these rules became effective, another international conference was called, and it resulted in some further minor changes. This 1960 convention finally recognized radar as a collision avoidance tool and covered the use of it in an annex to the rules. Further, the new rules required small vessels not to hamper large vessels.
Interested persons in the United States for many years had discussed a need for unification of this country’s conflicting rules of the road. In mid-1946, the Coast Guard published a booklet entitled Comparative Rules of the Road and How to Obey Them. It had numerous plates illustrating location and placement of lights on vessels for each of the different U. S. rules and the international rules. These illustrations were on the same page so the comparison of differences and similarities was readily apparent. The booklet also contained many common- sense slogans such as:
► “You never have the right-of-way through another vessel.”
► “No rule requires a privileged vessel to hold course and speed until collision is inevitable.”
► “Being privileged is no privilege.”
► “An overtaken vessel is not as fast but she got there first.”
► “Good seamanship, like some other things, takes a lot of practice to get good at it.”
► “The best place to know the rules and the worst place to study them is in a collision approach.”
In the late 1950s, the Western Rivers Panel of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Council formally endorsed the concept of a unified set of rules and urged the Coast Guard to develop a new code. The Coast Guard again published a comparative analysis of the various statutes and pilot rules in 1959 as a discussion paper for study. These updated the various changes which had occurred since the 1946 booklet. Noteworthy modifications included extensive changes to the Western Rivers Rules as follows:
►Instead of applying to all rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, the rules now applied only to the Mississippi and its tributaries above the Huey P. Long Bridge, the Warrior River System, the At- chafalaya River and the Red River of the North.
►Rule 18 differentiated between meeting vessels as to who was ascending or descending a river, giving certain privileges to the descending vessel.
►Rule 19 gave the descending vessel with a tow the right-of-way over a steam vessel crossing the river.
►The rules added statutorily the danger, blind bend, and departing berth signals.
In 1953, the jurisdictional lines of coverage were again changed to remove the Warrior-Tombigbee and the Mobile River from Western River Rules and to place them instead under the Inland Rules.
Between the 1960 international convention and its coming into effect in 1965, a concentrated effort was made to unify the three different internal statutes governing the Western Rivers, Great Lakes, and Inland Waters. The Maritime Law Association in November 1964 adopted a resolution to have one of its subcommittees meet and cooperate with the Coast Guard on the collision rules. The goal was to achieve rule-making uniformity, to the maximum extent possible, between the international rules and our three sets of national rules.
In 1965, the Coast Guard set up a Rules of the Road Coordinating Panel which developed a draft unified set of rules. The rules were widely circulated and received strong opposition from some quarters. During this period, bills calling for rules similar to the unified code were introduced in Congress. Although many groups with marine interests were supportive of these bills, there was a great deal of dissatisfaction within some groups because of all the exceptions included. No action was taken on the legislation because it was deemed necessary to complete a revision of the international collision regulations by a subcommittee of the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO). This organization recognized the technical changes in ships and shipping and met to discuss the entire recodification of the international rules, even though the latest version had been in effect only a few years. Since changes were occurring so rapidly, the .domestic groups working on unification considered it wise to wait until the new set of international reg-
ulations was developed. The draft changes being suggested by IMCO were a departure from the traditional format which had evolved over the years with only cosmetic changes.
In October 1972, the delegations from the world maritime nations convened in London and formulated the 1972 collision regulations. The convention Went into full international force and effect on 15 July 1977, after it had been ratified by enough nations representing a significant portion of the tonnage of the merchant vessels of the world fleets. Public Law 95-75 put the regulations in the U. S. statutory code.
Also in 1977, the Secretary of Transportation formally established the Rules of the Road Advisory Committee. It consists of 20 members from geographically diverse sections of the country, representing all sectors of the maritime community. Then and now, its function is to provide advice and consultation to the Commandant of the Coast Guard on collision rules and regulations. The unification of the U. S. rules was a main agenda item for the first meeting of the committee. It has been the main topic of discussion of every meeting since.
During the debate over the various passages in the drafts circulated to the members of the committee, consideration was asked for a new rule which stated:
“When two or more vessels meet, no matter what the aspect, whether on rivers, harbors, roadsteads, bays, open oceans, or any body of water in which they can float, each shall immediately stop and wait for the other to pass.”
Though this tongue-in-cheek command, if carried out, would probably prevent all future collisions as Well as negate the need for additional requirements, the committee decided the needs of commerce, Pleasure, and the other aspects of moving vessels from place to place on water would be better served a somewhat more detailed set of rules were promulgated.
. The efforts of the committee ultimately resulted 'n a bill being introduced in the House of Representatives during the 96th Congress. With minor modifications, the bill overwhelmingly passed the House and was sent to the Senate for consideration. The Senate Commerce Committee recognized the Importance of this legislation and favorably reported the bill to the full Senate with only a few technical changes. The committee’s report included most of the analysis of the provisions of the rules which has been submitted by the Rules of the Road Advisory Committee. This report reflected the intent of Congress and will be of vital importance to future mariners who will operate under these rules.
On 24 December 1980, the President signed into law the Inland Navigational Rules Act as Public Law 96-591, which will go into effect in one year, as a Christmas present in 1981. History had finally come the full course of the compass from the chaos of countless conflicting local rules to the predictability of uniform standard national rules. Earlier, our country’s first general navigation laws applied to all vessels in all waters, but over the years they became regional as different ideas prevailed. Now they are again unified and apply to all vessels which navigate our domestic waters.
The rules themselves have not been radically changed in substance, but they have evolved to meet the challenges placed upon them by a rapidly developing and technologically growing world. These are living rules; they have room for change. It is just when they change in the future, they will do so in uniform fashion. At last, a mechanism has been established to monitor the rules. This has been legislatively sanctioned in the form of what is now called the Rules of the Road Advisory Council, which shows positively that government and industry can work together to settle and solve common objectives. Without this forum, vessels leaving port might still encounter as many as three sets of conflicting nautical standards en route to the open sea.
With the council convening to study, debate, and labor over the diverse aspects of navigation, and by offering interpretive analysis with language modification, the rules will grow. Such growth will be uniform and it will strive to achieve the ultimate cardinal point to mariners, which is, of course, to prevent collisions.
PMr. Lehman is vice president of the American Commercial Barge Line Company of Jeffersonville, Indiana. He has served as a pilot and master of towboats operating on the inland waters and Western rivers of the United States. He is a member of the Rules of the Road Advisory Committee to the Commandant of the Coast Guard.
_____________________________ A Horse of a Different Color __________________
While attending a CPO initiation I overheard two chiefs discussing a huge, somewhat overweight, middle-aged LDO ensign who had just entered the room. The first chief remarked that the ensign looked pretty old to be an ensign. The second chief explained that he was probably a “Mustang.” The first chief responded, “He looks more like a Clydesdale to me!”
Harry E. Clark