STEAMERS IN NARROW CHANNELS.

RULE 24. That in all narrow channels where there is a current, and in the rivers Saint Mary, Saint Clair, Detroit, Niagara and Saint Lawrence, when two steamers are meeting, the descending steamer shall have the right of way, and shall, before the vessels shall have arrived within the distance of one-half mile of each other, give the signal necessary to indicate which side she elects to take.

RULE 25. In all channels less than five hundred feet in width, no steam-vessel shall pass another going in the same direction unless the steam-vessel ahead be disabled or signify her willingness that the steam-vessel astern shall pass, when the steam-vessel astern may pass, subject, however, to the other rules applicable to such a situation. And when steam-vessels proceeding in opposite directions are about to meet in such channels, both such vessels shall be slowed down to a moderate speed, according to the circumstances.

DIRECT SIGNALS.

RULE 26. If the pilot of a steam-vessel to which a passing signal is sounded deems it unsafe to accept and assent to said signal, he shall not sound a cross-signal; but in that case, and in every case where the pilot of one steamer fails to understand the course or intention of an approaching steamer, whether from signals being given or answered erroneously, or from other causes, the pilot of such steamer so receiving the first passing signal, or the pilot so in doubt, shall sound several short and rapid blasts of the whistle; and if the vessels shall have approached within half a mile of each other, both shall reduce their speed to bare steerageway, and, if necessary, stop and reverse.

IMMEDIATE DANGER.

RULE 27. In obeying and construing these rules due regard shall be had to all dangers of navigation and collision, and to any special circumstances which may render a departure from the above rules necessary in order to avoid immediate danger.

NEGLECT OF PRECAUTIONS, ETC.

RULE 28. Nothing in these rules shall exonerate any vessel, or the owner or master or crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to carry lights or signals, or of any neglect to keep a proper lookout, or of a neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the

case.

FINE.

SEC. 2. That a fine not exceeding $200 may be imposed for the violation of any of the provisions of this act. The vessel shall be liable for the said penalty, and may be seized and proceeded against, by way of libel, in the district court of the United States for any district within which such vessel may be found.

AUTHORITY TO MAKE REGULATIONS.

SEC. 3. That the secretary of the treasury of the United States shall have authority to establish all necessary regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, required to carry the same into effect. The board of supervising inspectors of the United States shall have authority to establish such regulations to be observed by all steamvessels in passing each other, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as they shall from time to time deem necessary; and all regulations adopted by the said board of supervising inspectors under the authority of this act, when approved by the secretary of the treasury, shall have the force of law. Two printed copies of any such regulations for passing, signed by them, shall be furnished to each steam-vessel, and shall at all times be kept posted up in conspicuous places on board.

REPEAL OF INCONSISTENT RULES.

SEC. 4. That all laws or parts of laws, so far as applicable to the navigation of the Great Lakes and their connecting and tributary waters as far east as Montreal, inconsistent with the foregoing rules, are hereby repealed.

SEC. 5. That this act shall take effect on and after March 1, 1895. Approved February 8, 1895.

RULES FOR THE NAVIGATION OF HARBORS, RIVERS AND INLAND WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That on and after March 1, 1895, the provisions of sections 4233, 4412 and 4413 of the Revised Statutes, and regulations pursuant thereto, shall be followed on the harbors, rivers and inland waters of the United States.

The provisions of said sections of the Revised Statutes and regulations pursuant thereto are hereby declared special rules duly made by local authority relative to the navigation of harbors, rivers and inland

waters as

provided for in article 30 of the act of August 19, 1890, en

titled "An act to adopt regulations for preventing collisions at sea."

SEC. 2.

The secretary of the treasury is hereby authorized, empowered

and directed from time to time to designate and define by suitable bearings or ranges with light-houses, light-vessels, buoys or coast objects, the lines dividing the high seas from rivers, harbors and inland

waters.

SEC. 3.

Collectors or other chief officers of the customs shall require

all sail-vessels to be furnished with proper signal lights. Every such vessel that shall be navigated without complying with the statutes of the United States, or the regulations that may be lawfully made there

under, shall be liable to a penalty of $200, one-half to go to the informer; for which sum the vessel so navigated shall be liable, and may be seized and proceeded against by way of libel in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the offense.

SEC. 4. The words "inland waters" used in this act shall not be held to include the Great Lakes and their connecting and tributary waters as far east as Montreal; and this act shall not in any respect modify or affect the provisions of the act entitled "An act to regulate navigation on the Great Lakes and their connecting and tributary waters," approved February 8, 1895.

RULES OF THE SUPERVISING INSPECTORS.

PILOT RULES FOR ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC COAST INLAND WATERS.

Rules and regulations for the government of pilots of steamers navigating harbors, rivers and inland waters (except the Great Lakes, the Red River of the North, and rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, and their tributaries) when meeting or approaching each other, whether by day or night, and as soon as fully within sound of the steam-whistle. Adopted by the Board of Supervising Inspectors, June, 1871; amended January, 1875, 1881, 1882, 1893, 1895.

RULE I. When steamers are approaching each other "head and head," or nearly so, it shall be the duty of each steamer to pass to the right or port side of the other; and the pilot of either steamer may be first in determining to pursue this course, and thereupon shall give, as a signal of his intention, one short and distinct blast of his steamwhistle, which the pilot of the other steamer shall answer promptly by a similar blast of his steam-whistle, and thereupon such steamers shall pass to the right or port side of each other. But if the course of such steamers is so far on the starboard of each other as not to be considered by pilots as meeting "head and head,” or nearly so, the pilots so first deciding shall immediately give two short and distinct blasts of his steam-whistle, which the pilot of the other steamer shall answer promptly by two similar blasts of his steam-whistle, and they shall pass to the left or on the starboard side of each other.

NOTE. In the night steamers will be considered as meeting "head and head" so long as both the colored lights of each are in view of the other.

RULE II. When steamers are approaching each other in an oblique direction (as shown in diagram of the fourth situation) they shall pass to the right of each other, as if meeting "head and head," or nearly so, and the signals by whistle shall be given and answered promptly, as in that case specified.

RULE III. If, when steamers are approaching each other, the pilot of either vessel fails to understand the course or intention of the other, whether from signals being given or answered erroneously, or from other causes, the pilot so in doubt shall immediately signify the same by giving several short and rapid blasts of the steam-whistle; and if the vessels shall have approached within half a mile of each other, both shall be immediately slowed to speed barely sufficient for steerageway until the proper signals are given, answered, and understood, or until the vessels shall have passed each other.

Vessels approaching each other from opposite directions are forbidden to use what has become technically known among pilots as "crosssignals - that is answering one whistle with two, and answering two whistles with one. In all cases, and under all circumstances, a pilot receiving either of the whistle signals provided in the rules, which for any reason he deems injudicious to comply with, instead of answering it with a cross-signal, must at once observe the provisions of this

rule.

RULE IV. When steamers are running in a fog or thick weather, it shall be the duty of the pilot to cause a long blast of the steam-whistle to be sounded at intervals not exceeding one minute.

Steamers, when drifting or at anchor in the fair-way of other vessels in a fog or thick weather, shall ring their bells at intervals of not more than two minutes.

RULE V. Whenever a steamer is nearing a short bend or curve in the channel, where, from the height of the banks or other cause, a steamer approaching from the opposite direction cannot be seen for a distance of half a mile, the pilot of such steamer, when he shall have arrived within half a mile of such curve or bend, shall give a signal by one long blast of the steam-whistle, which signal shall be answered by a similar blast, given by the pilot of any approaching steamer that may be within hearing. Should such signal be so answered by a steamer upon the farther side of such bend, then the usual signals for meeting and passing shall immediately be given and answered; but, if the first alarm signal of such pilot be not answered, he is to consider the channel clear and govern himself accordingly.

When boats are moved from their docks or berths, and other boats are liable to pass from any direction toward them, they shall give the

same

signal

as in case of boats meeting at a bend. But immediately

after clearing the berths so as to be fully in sight, they shall be gov erned by Rule L

RULE VI. The signals, by the blowing of the steam-whistle, shall be given and answered by pilots, in compliance with these rules, not only when meeting "head and head," or nearly so, but at all times when

passing

or

meeting at a distance within a half mile

whether passing to the starboard or port.

of each other, and

RULE VII. When two steamers are approaching the narrows known as "Hell Gate," on the East River at New York, side by side, or nearly so, running in the same direction, the steamer on the right or starboard hand of the other (when approaching from the west), when they shall have arrived abreast of the north end of Blackwell's Island, shall have the right of way, and the steamer on the left or port side shall check her way and drop astern. In like case when two steamers are approaching from the east and are abreast at Negro Point, the steamer on the right or starboard hand of the other shall have the right of way, and shall proceed on her course without interference, and the steamer on the port side of the other shall keep at a safe distance astern (not less than three lengths) until both steamers have passed through the difficult channel.

RULE VIII. When steamers are running in the same direction, and the pilot of a steamer which is astern shall desire to pass on the right or starboard hand of the steamer ahead, he shall give one short blast of the steam-whistle as a signal of such desire and intention, and shall put his helm to port; or if he shall desire to pass on the left or port side of the steamer ahead, he shall give two short blasts of the steam whistle as a signal of such desire and intention, and shall put his helm to starboard, and the pilot of the steamer ahead shall answer by the same signals, or if he does not think it safe for the steamer astern to attempt to pass at that point he shall immediately signify the same by giving several short and rapid blasts of the steam-whistle, and under no circumstances shall the steamer astern attempt to pass the steamer ahead until such time as they have reached a point where it can be safely done, when said steamer ahead shall signify her willingness by blowing the proper signals. The boat ahead shall in no case attempt to cross the bow or crowd upon the course of the passing steamer. Every vessel coming up with another vessel from any direction more than two points abaft her beam, that is, in such a position with reference to the vessel which she is overtaking that at night she would be unable to see either of that vessel's side-lights, shall be deemed to be an overtaking vessel, and no subsequent alteration of the bearing between the two vessels shall make the overtaking vessel a crossing vessel within the meaning of these rules, or relieve her of the duty of keeping clear of the overtaken vessel until she is finally past and clear.

N. B.-The foregoing rules are to be complied with in all cases except when steamers are navigating in a crowded channel or in the vicinity of wharves; under such circumstances steamers must be run and managed with great caution, sounding the whistle as may be necessary, to guard against collision or other accidents.

Section 4233, Revised Statutes.- Rule XXIV.-In construing and obeying these rules, due regard must be had to all dangers of navigation, and to any special circumstances which may exist in any particular case rendering a departure from them necessary in order to avoid immediate danger.