ACT OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1890, IN REGARD TO COLLISIONS AT SEA, THAT WENT INTO EFFECT DECEMBER 15, 18901

By the President of the United States of America

A proclamation

Whereas an act of Congress in regard to collisions at sea was approved September 4, 1890, the said act being in the following words: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in every case of collision between two vessels it shall be the duty of the master or person in charge of each vessel, if and so far as he can do so without serious danger to his own vessel, crew, and passengers (if any), to stay by the other vessel until he has ascertained that she has no need of further assistance, and to render to the other vessel, her master, crew, and passengers (if any) such assistance as may be practicable and as may be necessary in order to save them from any danger caused by the collision, and also to give to the master or person in charge of the other vessel the name of his own vessel and her port of registry, or the port or place to which she belongs, and also the name of the ports and places from which and to which she is bound. If he fails so to do, and no reasonable cause for such failure is shown, the collision shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to have been caused by his wrongful act, neglect, or default.

"SEC. 2. That every master or person in charge of a United States vessel who fails, without reasonable cause, to render such assistance or give such information as aforesaid shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to a penalty of one thousand dollars, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; and for the above sum the vessel shall be liable and may be seized and proceeded against by process in any district court of the United States by any person; one-half such sum to be payable to the informer and the other to the United States.

"SEC. 3. That this act shall take effect at a time to be fixed by the President by Proclamation issued for that purpose."

And whereas it is provided by section 3 of the said act that it shall take effect at a time to be fixed by the President by proclamation issued for that purpose:

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do hereby, in virtue of the authority vested in me by section 3 of the said act, proclaim the fifteenth day of December, 1890, as the day on which the said act shall take effect.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington this eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth.

[SEAL]

By the President:

JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State.

126 Stat. 425; 33 U. S. C. 367, 368.

BENJ. HARRISON.

REGULATIONS1

TITLE 33-NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS

Chapter I-Coast Guard, Department of the Treasury Subchapter D-Navigation Requirements for Certain Inland

Waters

80.4 Vessels approaching each other head and head, end on.

80.5 Vessels nearing bend or curve in channel; moving from docks.

80.7 Vessels approaching each other at

Sec.

80.16b Lights for barges, canal boats, scows, and other nondescript vessels temporarily operating on waters requiring different lights.

80.17

Lights for barges and canal boats in tow of steam vessels on the Hudson River and adjacent waters and Lake Champlain.

Lights and day signals for vessels, dredges of all types, and vessels working on wrecks and obstructions, etc.

80.18

80.6 Vessels running in same direction; overtaking vessel.

cific Coasts.

Scows and other nondescript

vessels on certain inland wa

Signals to be displayed by a towing vessel when towing a submerged or partly submerged object upon a hawser when no signals can be displayed upon the object which is towed. Steam vessels, derrick boats, lighters, or other types of vessels made fast alongside a wreck, or moored over a wreck which is on the bottom or partly submerged, or which may be drifting.

Dredges held in stationary posi

tion by moorings or spuds. Self-propelling suction dredges under way and engaged in dredging operations.

Vessels moored or anchored and engaged in laying cables or pipe, submarine construction, excavation, mat sinking, bank grading, dike construction, revetment, or other bank protection operations.

80.16a Lights for barges, canal boats, 80.23 Lights to be displayed on pipe

lines.

ters on the Gulf Coast and the 80.24 Lights generally.

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. 80.25 Vessels moored or at anchor.

1 The regulations in this part are copied from the Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America, as amended.

80.26 Passing signals.

Special day or night signals

Sec.
80.32a Day marks for fishing vessels
with gear out.

80.27 Speed of vessels passing floating 80.33 Special signals for vessels emplant working in channels.

80.28 Light-draft vessels passing float

ing plant.

80.29 Aids to navigation marking floating-plant moorings.

80.30 Obstruction of channel by float

ing plant.

80.31 Clearing of channels.

ployed in hydrographic surveying.

80.33a Warning signals for Coast Guard vessels while handling or servicing aids to navigation.

Unauthorized use of lights; unnecessary whistling

80.31a Protection of marks placed for 80.34 Rule relating to the use of search

the guidance of floating plant.

Lights for rafts and other craft not

lights or other blinding lights. Rule prohibiting unnecessary sounding of the whistle.

80.35

Rule prohibiting the carrying of unauthorized lights on vessels.

AUTHORITY: §§ 80.01 to 80.33a issued under sec. 2, 30 Stat. 102, as amended, 33 U. S. C. 157. Other statutory provisions interpreted or applied are cited to text.

GENERAL

Section 80.01 General Instructions. The regulations in this part apply to vessels navigating the harbors, rivers, and inland waters of the United States, except the Great Lakes and their connecting and tributary waters as far east as Montreal, the Red River of the North, the Mississippi River and its tributaries above Huey P. Long Bridge, and that part of the Atchafalaya River above its junction with the Plaquemine-Morgan City alternate waterway.

80.02 Definition of steam vessel and vessel under way; risk of collision. In the rules in this part the words "steam vessel" shall include any vessel propelled by machinery. A vessel is under way, within the meaning of the rules in this part, when she is not at anchor, or made fast to the shore, or aground. Risk of collison can, when circumstances permit, be ascertained by carefully watching the compass bearing of an approaching vessel. If the bearing does not appreciably change, such risk should be deemed to exist.

SIGNALS

80.03 Signals. The whistle signals provided in the rules in this part shall be sounded on an efficient whistle or siren sounded by steam or by some substitute for steam.

A short blast of the whistle shall mean a blast of about one second's duration.

A prolonged blast of the whistle shall mean a blast of from 4 to 6 seconds' duration.

One short blast of the whistle signifies intention to direct course to own starboard, except when two steam vessels are approaching each other at right angles or obliquely, when it signifies intention of steam vessel which is to starboard of the other to hold course and speed.

Two short blasts of the whistle signify intention to direct course to own port.

Three short blasts of the whistle shall mean, "My engines are going at full speed astern."

When vessels are in sight of one another a steam vessel under way whose engines are going at full speed astern shall indicate that fact by three short blasts on the whistle.

80.1 Danger signal.-If, when steam vessels are approaching each other, either vessel fails to understand the course or intention of the other, from any cause, the vessel so in doubt shall immediately signify the same by giving several short and rapid blasts, not less than four, of the steam whistle, the danger signal.

80.2 Cross signals.-Steam vessels are forbidden to use what has become technically known among pilots as "cross signals," that is, answering one whistle with two, and answering two whistles with one.

80.3 Vessels passing each other. The signals for passing, by the blowing of the whistle, shall be given and answered by pilots, in compliance with the rules in this part, not only when meeting "head and head," or nearly so, but at all times when the steam vessels are in sight of each other, when passing or meeting at a distance within half a mile of each other, and whether passing to the starboard or port. The whistle signals provided in the rules in this part for steam vessels meeting, passing, or overtaking are never to be used except when steam vessels are in sight of each other, and the course and position of each can be determined in the daytime by a sight of the vessel itself, or by night by seeing its signal lights. In fog, mist, falling snow, or heavy rainstorms, when vessels cannot so see each other, fog signals only must be given.

SITUATIONS

80.4 Vessels approaching each other head and head, end on.When steam vessels are approaching each other head and head, that is, end on, or nearly so, it shall be the duty of each to pass on the port side of the other; and either vessel shall give, as a signal of her intention one short and distinct blast of her whistle, which the other vessel shall answer promptly by a similar blast of her whistle, and thereupon such vessels shall pass on the port side of each other. But if the courses of such vessels are so far on the starboard of each other as not to be considered as meeting head and head, either vessel shall immediately give two short and distinct blasts of her whistle, which the other vessel shall answer promptly by two similar blasts of her whistle, and they shall pass on the starboard side of each other. The foregoing only applies to cases where vessels are meeting end on or nearly end on, in such a manner as to involve risk of collision; in other words, to cases in which, by day, each vessel sees the masts of the other in a line, or nearly in a line, with her own, and by night to cases in which each vessel is in such a position as to see both the side lights of the other.

It does not apply by day to cases in which a vessel sees another ahead crossing her own course, or by night to cases where the red light of one vessel is opposed to the red light of the other, or where