REGULATIONS

FOR

PREVENTING COLLISIONS AT SEA.(a)

ART. 1.

§ 658. In the following rules every steam ship which is under Art. 1. sail and not under steam is to be considered a sailing ship; and every steam ship which is under steam, whether under sail or not, is to be considered a ship under steam.(b)

Where a vessel is being towed by a steam tug, the vessel and the tug are to be treated, for the purposes of these regulations, as one steam ship, for the conduct of which the vessel towed is responsible.(c)

ART. 2.

Rules concerning Lights.

§ 659. The lights mentioned in the following articles, numbered Art. 2. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, and no others, shall be carried in Lights. all weathers, from sunset to sunrise.(d)

(a) Mr. Gray, in his very able edition of the Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, gives the following aids to memory in four verses:

1. Two Steamships meeting. When both side Lights you see aheadPort your helin, and show your RED. 2. Two Steamships passing. GREEN to GREEN-or, RED to REDPerfect safety-Go ahead!

3. Two Steamships crossing. NOTE. This is the position of greatest danger; there is nothing for it but good look-out, caution, and judg

ment.

If to your starboard RED appear,
It is your duty to keep clear;
To act as judgment says is proper :-

To Port-or Starboard-Back-or, Stop
her!

But when upon your Port is seen

A Steamer's Starboard light of GREEN,
There's not so much for you to do,
For GREEN to Port keeps clear of you.

4. All Ships must keep a good look-out,
and Steam Ships must stop and go
astern if necessary.

Both in safety and in doubt
Always keep a good look-out;
In danger, with no room to turn,
Ease her!-Stop her!-Go astern!

(b) The Jennie S. Barker, L. R. 4 Ad. 456.

(c) The Cleadon, Lush. 158; nom. Stevens v. Gourley, 14 Moo. P. C. 92; but see The American and The Syria, L. R. 6 P. C. 127.

(d) Various local rules as to lights are in operation on the Thames, Mersey, and other rivers. See Marsden's Collisions at Sea, App.

Art. 2.

This does not mean that no other lights shall be shown on any occasion, but that no other lights shall be carried as fixed lights. Under some circumstances a flare-up light may be shown to give warning in case of danger.(e)

The use of an improper light cannot be excused on the ground that it was exhibited by order of a pilot compulsorily employed.(ƒ)

Art. 3. Lights for steam ships.

ART. 3.

§ 660. A seagoing steam ship when under way shall carry: (a) On or in front of the Foremast at a height above the hull of not less than 20 feet, and if the breadth of the ship exceeds 20 feet, then at a height above the hull not less than such breadth, a bright white light, so constructed as to show an uniform and unbroken light over an are of the horizon of 20 points of the compass; so fixed as to throw the light 10 points on each side of the ship, viz., from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on either side; and of such a character as to be visible on a dark night, with a clear atmosphere, at a distance of at least five miles.

(b) On the Starboard Side, a green light, so constructed as to show an uniform and unbroken light over an are of the horizon of 10 points of the compass;(g) so fixed as to throw the light from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on the starboard side; and of such a character as to be visible on a dark night, with a clear atmosphere, at a distance of at least two miles.

(c) On the Port Side, a red light, so constructed as to show an uniform and unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of 10 points of the compass; so fixed as to throw the light from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on the port side; and of such a character as to be visible on a dark night, with a clear atmosphere, at a distance of at least two miles.

(d) The said green and red side lights shall be fitted with inboard screens, projecting at least three feet forward from the light, so as to prevent these lights from being seen across the bow.(h)

(e) To ensure that the red and green side lights shall show an uniform light from right ahead of the ship to two points abaft the beam on the port and starboard sides respectively, and shall not show across the bow of the ship itself, the said lights must be fixed and the screens fitted so that the rays from the red and green lights shall

cross the line of the ship's keel projected ahead of the ship at a Art. 3. reasonable distance ahead of the ship.

With regard to all vessels whose lights are inspected by the officers of the Board of Trade, the red or green side-light will not be deemed to be fixed and fitted in accordance with the Regulations, unless it is so fixed and screened that a line drawn from the outside edge of the wick to the foremost end of the inboard screen of such light shall make an angle of four degrees, or as near thereto as may be practicable, with a line drawn parallel with the keel of the ship from the outside edge of the wick.(i)

A vessel with her anchor down, but not actually holden by and under the control of it, is "under way" within the meaning of this regulation, and is bound to exhibit coloured lights.(k)

ART. 4.

§ 661. A steam ship, when towing another ship, shall, in addition Art. 4. to her side-lights, carry two bright white lights in a vertical line one Lights for steam ships over the other, not less than three feet apart, so as to distinguish her towing other from other steam ships. Each of these lights shall be of the same construction and character, and shall be carried in the same position, as the white light which other steam ships are required to carry.(1)

ART. 5.

ships.

§ 662. (a) A ship, whether a steam ship or a sailing ship, Art. 5. which from any accident is not under command, shall at night carry, Signals for ships not in the same position as the white light which steam ships are required under comto carry, and, if a steam ship, in place of that light, three red lights mand, and telegraphi in globular lanterns, each not less than 10 inches in diameter, in a ships. vertical line one over the other, not less than three feet apart, and of such a character as to be visible on a dark night with a clear atmosphere at a distance of at least two miles; and shall by day carry in a vertical line one over the other, not less than three feet apart, in front of but not lower than her foremast head, three black balls or shapes, each two feet in diameter.

(b) A ship, whether a steam ship or a sailing ship, employed in laying or in picking up a telegraph cable, shall at night carry in the same position as the white light which steam ships are required to carry, and, if a steam ship, in place of that light, three lights in globular lanterns, each not less than 10 inches in diameter, in a vertical line over one another, not less than six feet apart; the highest

(i) This sub-section was added by Order in Council of Jan. 30, 1893, with a view to minimising the difficulties due to the existence of the dark lane between

the bows of the vessel and the point of
intersection of her side-lights.
(k) The Esk, L. R. 2 Ad. 350.
(1) See Art. 3, ante § 660.