Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

SEC. 4284. Whenever any such embezzlement, loss, or destruction is suffered by several freighters or owners of goods, wares, merchandise, or any property whatever, on the same voyage, and the whole value of the vessel, and her freight for the voyage, is not sufficient to make compensation to each of them, they shall receive compensation from the owner of the vessel, in proportion to their respective losses; and for that purpose the freighters and owner[s]* of the property, and the owner of the vessel, or any of them, may take the appropriate proceedings in any court, for the purpose of apportioning the sum for which the owner of the vessel may be liable among the parties entitled thereto.

SEC. 4285. It shall be deemed a sufficient compliance on the part of such owner with the requirements of this Title relating to his liability for any embezzlement, loss, or destruction of any property, goods, or merchandise, if he shall transfer his interest in such vessel and freight, for the benefit of such claimants, to a trustee, to be appointed by any court of competent jurisdiction, to act as such trustee for the person who may prove to be legally entitled thereto; from and after which transfer all claims and proceedings against the owner shall cease.

SEC. 4286. The charterer of any vessel, in case he shall man, victual, and navigate such vessel at his own expense, or by his own procurement, shall be deemed the owner of such vessel within the meaning of the provisions of this Title relating to the limitation of the liability of the owners of vessels; and such vessel, when so chartered, shall be liable in the same manner as if navigated by the owner thereof.

SEC. 4287. Nothing in the five preceding sections shall be construed to take away or affect the remedy to which any party may be entitled, against the master, officers, or seamen, for or on account of any embezzlement, injury, loss, or destruction of merchandise, or property, put on board any vessel, or on account of any negligence, fraud, or other malversation of such master, officers, or seamen, respectively, nor to lessen or take away any responsibility to which any master or seaman of any vessel may by law be liable, notwithstanding such master or seaman may be an owner or part owner of the vessel.

SEC. 4288. Any person shipping oil of vitrol, unslacked lime, inflammable matches, or gunpowder, in a vessel taking cargo for divers persons on freight, without delivering, at the time of shipment, a note in writing, expressing the nature and character of such merchandise, to the master, mate, officer, or person in charge of the lading of the vessel, shall be liable to the United States in a penalty of one thousand dollars. But this section shall not apply to any vessel of any description whatsoever used in rivers or inland navigation.

SEC. 4289. The provisions of this Title relating to the limitation of the liability of the owners of vessels, shall not apply to the owners of any canal boat, barge, or lighter, or to any vessel of any description whatsoever used in rivers or inland navigation.

SEC. 18. That the individual liability of a ship-owner, shall be limited to the proportion of any or all debts and liabilities that his individual share of the vessel, bears to the whole; and the aggregate liabilities of all the owners of a vessel on account of the same shall not exceed the value of such vessels and freight pending: Provided, That this provision shall not affect the liability of any owner incurred previous to the passage of this act, nor prevent any claimant from joining all the owners in one action; nor shall the same apply to wages due to persons employed by said ship-owners. (Act of June 26, 1884.)

H. Mis. 391-6

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY OF VESSELS.

SEC. 4. That section forty-two hundred and eighty-nine of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4289. The provisions of the seven preceding sections, and of section eighteen of an act entitled 'An act to remove certain burdens on the American merchant marine and encourage the American foreign carrying-trade, and for other purposes,' approved June twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, relating to the limitations of the liability of the owners of vessels, shall apply to all sea going vessels, and also to all vessels used on lakes or rivers or in inland navigation, including canal-boats, barges, and lighters." (Act June 19, 1886.)

3.—TRANSPORTATION BY STEAM-VESSELS.

(Title LII, chap. 2.)

SEC. 4463. No steamer carrying passengers shall depart from any port unless she shall have in her service a full complement of licensed officers and full crew, sufficient at all times to manage the vessel, including the proper number of watchmen. But if any such vessel, on her voyage, is deprived of the services of any licensed officer, without the consent, fault, or collusion of the master, owner, or any person interested in the vessel, the deficiency may be temporarily supplied, until others licensed can be obtained.

SEC. 4464. The inspectors shall state in every certificate of inspection granted to steamers carrying passengers, other than ferry-boats, the number of passengers of each class that any such steamer has accommodations for, and can carry with prudence and safety.

SEC. 4465. It shall not be lawful to take on board of any steamer a greater number of passengers than is stated in the certificate of inspection; and for every violation of this provision the master or owner shall be liable, to any person suing for the same, to forfeit the amount of passage-money and ten dollars for each passenger beyond the number allowed.

SEC. 4466. If any passenger steamer engages in excursions, the inspectors shall issue to such steamer a special permit, in writing, for the occasion, in which shall be stated the additional number of passengers that may be carried, and the number and kind of life-saving appliances that shall be provided for the safety of such additional passengers; and they shall also, in their discretion, limit the route and distance for such excursions.

SEC. 4467. The master of every passenger-steamer shall keep a correct list of all the passengers received and delivered from day to day, noting the places where received and where landed, which record shall be opened to the inspection of the inspectors and officers of the customs at all times; and the aggregate number of passengers shall be furnished to inspectors as often as called for; but on routes not exceeding one hundred miles, the number of passengers, if kept, shall be sufficient.

SEC. 4468. Every master of any passenger-steamer who fails, through negligence or design, to keep a list of passengers, as required by the preceding section, shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars.

*See act last cited, sec. 49.

SEC. 4469. The penalties imposed by sections forty-four hundred and sixty-five and forty-four hundred and sixty-eight shall be a lien upon the vessel in each case; but a bond may, as provided in other cases, be given to secure the satisfaction of the judgment.

SEC. 4470. Every steamer carrying passengers or freight shall be provided with suitable pipes and valves attached to the boiler, to convey steam into the hold and the different compartments thereof, to extinguish fire; and every stove used on board of any such vessel shall be well and securely fastened, so as to prevent it from being moved or overthrown, and all wood-work or other ignitible substances about the boilers, chimneys, cook-houses, and stove-pipes exposed to ignition, shall be thoroughly shielded by some incombustible material, in such a manner as to leave the air to circulate freely between such material and wood-work or other ignitible substance; and before granting a certificate of inspection, the inspector shall require all other necessary provisions to be made throughout such vessel to guard against loss or danger from fire.

SEC. 4471. Every steamer permitted by her certificate of inspection to carry as many as fifty passengers, or upward, and every steamer carrying passengers, which also carries cotton, hay, or hemp, shall be provided with a good double-acting steam fire-pump, or other equivalent apparatus for throwing water. Such pump or other apparatus for throwing water shall be kept at all times and at all seasons of the year in good order and ready for immediate use, having at least two pipes of suitable dimensions, one on each side of the vessel, to convey the water to the upper decks, to which pipes there shall be attached, by means of stop-cocks or valves, both between decks and on the upper deck, good and suitable hose of sufficient strength to stand a pressure of not less than one hundred pounds to the square inch, long enough to reach to all parts of the vessel and properly provided with nozzles, and kept in good order and ready for immediate service. Every steamer exceeding two hundred tons burden and carrying passengers shall be provided with two good double-acting fire-pumps, to be worked by hand; each chamber of such pumps, except pumps upon steamers in service on the twenty-eighth day of February, eighteen hundred and seventy-one, shall be of sufficient capacity to contain not less than one hundred cubic inches of water; and such pumps shall be placed in the most suitable parts of the vessel for efficient service, having suitable well-fitted hose to each pump, of at least one-half the vessel in length, kept at all times in perfect order, and shipped up and ready for immediate use. On every steamer not exceeding two hundred tons, one of such pumps may be dispensed with. Each fire-pump thus prescribed shall be supplied with water by means of a suitable pipe connected therewith, and passing through the side of the vessel so low as to be at all times under water when she is afloat; and no fire-pump thus provided for shall be placed below the lower deck of the vessel. Every steamer shall also be pro vided with a pump which shall be of sufficient strength and suitably arranged to test the boilers thereof.

*SEC. 4472. No loose hay, loose cotton, or loose hemp, camphene, nitro-glycerine, naphtha, benzine, benzole, coal-oil, crude or refined pe troleum, or other like explosive burning fluids, or like dangerous arti cles, shall be carried as freight or used as stores on any steamer carrying passengers; nor shall baled cotton or hemp be carried on such steamers unless the bales are compactly pressed and thoroughly covered

* See secs. 4278-4280, and 5353-5355.

with bagging of similar fabric, and secured with good rope or iron bands; nor shall gunpowder be carried on any such vessel, except under special license; nor shall oil of vitriol, nitric or other chemical acids be carried on such steamers except on the decks or guards thereof, or in such other safe part of the vessel as shall be prescribed by the inspectors. Refined petroleum, which will not ignite at a temperature less than one hundred and ten degrees of Fahrenheit thermometer, may be carried on board such steamers upon routes where there is no other practical mode of transporting it, and under such regulations as shall be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury; and oil or spirits of turpentine may be carried on such steamers when put up in good metallic vessels, or casks or barrels well and securely bound with iron and stowed in a secure part of the vessel; and friction-matches may be carried on such steamers when securely packed in strong tight chests or boxes, the cov ers of which shall be well secured by locks, screws, or other reliable fastenings, and stowed in a safe part of the vessel at a secure distance from any fire or heat. All such other provisions shall be made on every steamer carrying passengers or freight, to guard against and extinguish fire, as shall be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors, and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 4473. Every bale of cotton or hemp that shall be shipped or carried on any passenger-steamer, without conforming to the provisions of the preceding section, shall be subject to a penalty of five dollars, and shall be liable to seizure and sale to secure the payment of such penalty. SEC. 4474. The Secretary of the Treasury may grant permission to the owner of any steam-vessel, to use any invention or process for the utilization of petroleum or other mineral oils or substances in the production of motive-power, and may make and enforce regulations concerning the application and use of the same for such purpose. But no such permission shall be granted, unless upon the certificate of the supervising inspector of steamboats for the district wherein such vessel is registered, and other satisfactory proof that the use of the same is safe and efficient; and upon such proof, and the approval of such certificate by the Secretary of the Treasury, a special license for the use of such process or invention shall issue under the seal of the Treasury Department.

SEC. 4475. All gunpowder, nitro-glycerine, camphene, naphtha, benzine, benzole, coal-oil, crude or refined petroleum, oil of vitriol, nitric or other chemical acids, oil or spirits of turpentine, friction-matches, and all other articles of like character, when packed or put up for shipment, shall be securely packed and put up separately from each other and from all other articles; and the package, box, cask, or other vessel containing the same shall be distinctly marked on the outside, with the name or description of the article contained therein.

SEC. 4476. Every person who packs or puts up, or causes to be packed or put up for shipment, any gunpowder, nitro-glycerine, camphene, naphtha, benzine, benzole, coal-oil, crude or refined petroleum, oil of vitriol, nitric or other chemical acids, oil or spirits of turpentine, friction-matches, or other articles of like character otherwise than as directed by the preceding section, or who knowingly ships or attempts to ship the same, or delivers the same to any such vessels as stores unless duly packed and marked, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, or imprison

*Practicable.

+ See note to sec. 4472.

ment not exceeding eighteen months, or both; one-half of the fine to go to the informer, and the articles to be liable to seizure and forfeiture. SEC. 4477. Every steamer carrying passengers during the night-time shall keep a suitable number of watchmen in the cabins, and on each deck, to guard against fire or other dangers, and to give alarm in case of accident or disaster.

SEC. 4478. For any neglect to keep the watchmen required by the preceding section, the license of the officer in charge of the vessel for the time being shall be revoked; and every owner of such vessel who neglects or refuses to furnish the number of men necessary to keep watch as required, shall be fined one thousand dollars.

SEC. 4479. The board of supervising inspectors may require steamers carrying either passengers or freight to be provided with such number and kind of good and efficient portable fire-extinguishers as, in the judgment of the board, may be necessary to protect them from fire when such steamers are moored or lying at a wharf without steam to work the pumps.

SEC. 4480. Every steamer carrying passengers shall be provided with wire tiller-ropes, or iron rods or chains, for the purpose of steering and navigating the vessel, and shall employ wire bell-pulls for signalizing the engineer from the pilot-house, together with tubes of proper size so arranged as to return the sound of the engine-bells to the pilot-house, or other arrangement to repeat back the signal. But on any such vessel navigated by the mariners' compass, so much of such wire rope or chain may be dispensed with and disused as shall influence or disturb the working of the compass.

SEC. 4481. Every steam-vessel navigating rivers only, except ferryboats, freight-boats, canal-boats, and towing-boats, of less than fifty tons, shall have at least one good substantial boat with lines attached, and properly supplied with oars, and kept in good condition at all times, and ready for immediate use; and in addition thereto, every such vessel carrying passengers shall have one or more metallic life-boats, fireproof, and in all respects good and substantial boats, of such dimensions and arrangements as the board of supervising inspectors by their regulations shall prescribe, which boats shall be carried in the most convenient manner to be brought into immediate use in case of accident. But where the character of the navigation is such that, in the opinion of the supervising inspector, the metallic life boats can be dispensed with, he may exempt any such vessel from carrying the same; or may require a substitute therefor, at his discretion.

SEC. 4482. Every such steam-vessel carrying passengers shall also be provided with a good life-preserver, made of suitable material, for every cabin passenger for which she will have accommodation, and also a good life-preserver or float for each deck or other class passenger which the inspector's certificate shall allow her to carry, including the officers and crew; which lite-preservers or floats shall be kept in convenient and accessible places on such vessel in readiness for immediate use in case of accident.

SEC. 4483. Every such steam-vessel carrying passengers, of two hundred tons burden or less, shall also keep at least eighteen fire-buckets and two water-barrels, and shall have not less than four axes; and every such steamer of over two hundred tons, and not less than five hundred tons burden, shall carry not less than twenty-four buckets, four waterbarrels, and six axes; and every such steamer of over five hundred tons shall carry not less than thirty-five buckets, six water-barrels, and eight axes. The buckets and barrels shall be kept in convenient places

« EdellinenJatka »