Licenses for vessels of less than 20 tons net: Commerce Form 1285 for vessels employed in the coasting trade and fisheries; Commerce Form 1288 for yachts.

R. S., 4321.

4158, 4332.

All marine documents must be signed and sealed by R. S., 2626, the collector before being issued. If there be a naval officer at the port, the certificate must be countersigned under seal by him, and if there be a surveyor, but no naval officer, it must be so countersigned by him.

The certificate of registry must bear the seal of the R. S., 4158. Department of Commerce, attested by the Commissioner

of Navigation.

every ves

R. S., 4176, 4333.

1884, sec. 2.

R.

4153.

Act Aug. 5. 1882.

Art. 20. Marine documents to be numbered.-The collector of each district must consecutively number the Act July 5, documents granted by him, beginning anew at the commencement of each fiscal year. Art. 21. Dimension and tonnage of vessel to be expressed R; S., 4150, in marine documents.-The marine document of sel shall express her length, breadth, and depth, and the height under the third or spar deck; the number of decks and masts; the tonnage under the tonnage deck; that on the between-decks above the tonnage deck; that of the poop or other inclosed spaces above the deck, each separately; it shall state separately the deductions made from the gross tonnage, and shall also state the net or register tonnage.

Art. 22. Fractions of net tons not to be reported.—Customs officers will not mark upon the main beam or enter in the marine document of a vessel any fraction of a ton of the net capacity. Example: If the net capacity of a vessel, as shown by her certificate of admeasurement, is either 500.90 or 500.10 tons, it will be marked 500 on her main beam and so entered in her marine document. They will, however, enter in each marine document the fractions of tons in the capacities making up the gross and in the capacities deducted from the gross to ascertain the net.

Art. 23. Revision of tonnage. The tonnage of any documented vessel of the United States expressed in her marine papers in pursuance of a measurement purporting to be in conformity to these regulations can be changed or set aside only by the Commissioner of Navigation, so long as the vessel remains unchanged in form or burden. Application from any quarter for amendment or revision in such cases must be submitted to the

T. D. 19053.

Act Mar. 2, 1895.

B/N Cir. Mar., 1896.

Commissioner of Navigation, with precise statements of errors supposed to exist.

These regulations shall not be construed to require the measurement of any American vessel measured before April 1, 1895; but upon application by the owner of any such vessel collectors of customs shall cause such vessel, or the spaces to be deducted, to be measured according to the provisions of law.

The outstanding marine documents of vessels of the United States shall not be rendered void by the addition of such new statement of her tonnage, unless voluntarily surrendered; but the same may be added to the outstanding document, or by an appendix thereto, with a certificate of a collector of customs that the original estimate of tonnage is amended. If a new document is not issued, the statement of such remeasurement shall be attached by an appendix to the outstanding document, with a certificate of the collector of customs that the original estimate of tonnage is amended pursuant to the act of March 2, 1895. The appendix granted should be inserted in the next papers issued.

On the remeasurement of any vessel under the act of March 2, 1895, and the issue of an appendix (Commerce Form 1415), without the surrender of marine documents, the proper customs officer will advise the Bureau of Navigation of the vessel's new net tonnage, by sending a copy of the appendix, and, if the appendix issue otherwise than at the vessel's home port, he will also notify the collector at such port.

Upon application by the owner or master of an American vessel in foreign trade, collectors of customs, under regulations to be approved by the Secretary of Ccmmerce, are authorized to attach to the register of such vessels an appendix stating separately, for use in foreign ports, the measurement of such space or spaces as are permitted to be deducted from gross tonnage by the rules of other nations and are not permitted by the laws of the United States.

As the provisions of the act of March 2, 1895, are in substantial accord with the measurement laws of the principal maritime nations, applications for an appendix, stating separately the measurement of spaces which may be deducted by the laws of other nations, but not by the laws of the United States, if there be any, should be referred to the Commissioner of Navigation.

Art. 24. Rebuilt vessels.-The marine

R. S., 4155,

4319.

Act July 9,

1912.

papers of any vessel should cite the place and date of her original build, T. D. 8233. and the date of "rebuild" should be noted on the margin. Upon affidavit by a reputable shipbuilder of the United States that an unrigged wooden vessel of the United States has been rebuilt, giving the date and place of such rebuilding, is sound and free from rotten or doted wood in structural parts, properly fastened and calked, and in strength and seaworthiness as good as new, the Commissioner of Navigation shall include in the List of Merchant Vessels a notation to that effect.

Art. 25. New documents.-When a new document is issued in lieu of one surrendered such new document must in all cases cite the previous document by number, date, and port of issue, and quote from it the description and tonnage of the vessel. A certificate of the builder or surveyor's certificate of measurement will not be required unless some change of tonnage has taken place since the time of the previous documentation.

R. S., 4178. Acts Feb. 21,

1891; Jan. 20,

1897.

T. Ds. 10830,

11940, 12276.

Art. 26. Name and home port on documented vessel. The name of every documented vessel (yachts excepted) shall be marked in full upon each bow and upon the stern, and the home port shall also be marked in full upon the stern. These names shall be painted, or carved, or gilded, in Roman letters in a light color on a dark ground, or in a dark color on a light ground, and must be distinctly visible. The letters used shall not be less than 4 inches high. If any vessel of the United States shall be found without these names so marked, the owner or owners are liable to a penalty of $10 for each name omitted. Every R. 8. 4495. steam vessel of the United States must in addition have 1891. her name conspicuously placed in distinct, plain letters of not less than 6 inches high on each outer side of the pilot house, if it has such, and in case the vessel has side wheels, also on the outer side of each wheelhouse, under the same penalty as provided above.

Act Feb. 21,

T. Ds. 3226,

On vessels called "double-enders" the letters pre- 10830. scribed by the statute may be placed on the parts corresponding to the bow and stern, and on vessels with sterns not affording sufficient space for letters they will be placed on the adjacent parts, in both cases so as to conform to the law as closely as possible, and so that the home port shall be marked at one end of the vessel.

R. S., 4214. Act Mar. 3, 1883.

T. Ds. 8447, 10830, 10990.

R. S., 4141, 4178.

Act June 26,

T. D. 17614.

Scows, barges, or other vessels "scow built" or with square bow may be marked on the bow instead of the side, where such marking would be speedily obliterated by chafing against other vessels, spiles, or docks.

Documented yachts are required to have their names and home ports placed on some conspicuous part of their hulls. Art. 27. Home port.-A vessel's home port is that port established by law at or nearest to which the owner re1884, sec, 21 sides, or, if there be more than one owner, that port at or nearest to which the husband or managing owner usually resides or the corporation owning it maintains an office. It is also the port at which a vessel's permanent documents issue, and the name of such port must be specified in all marine documents. But in reference to the painting of the name of a home port on the stern of a vessel the word "port" may be construed to mean either the port where the vessel is documented or the place in the same district where the vessel was built or where one or more of the owners reside.

R. S., 4147.

Vessels will be permanently documented at the port in the district to which the vessel belongs which is most accessible to the owner or managing owner.

Art. 28. Builder's certificate. In order to document a vessel of the first class not before documented it is necessary to produce a certificate, Commerce form 1261, from the builder under whose direction the vessel was built that she was so built, stating the place, time, person or persons for whom built, number of decks and masts, length, breadth, depth, and tonnage, and such other particulars as are usually descriptive of the identity of a vessel. This certificate will be sufficient to authorize the removal of a new vessel, if in ballast only, from the district where she may have been built to another district in the same or an adjoining State where the owner or owners actually reside. If the signature of the builder be unknown to the collector, he may require the production of a certificate of acknowledgment by the builder before an officer having a seal.

Any certificate in which the requirements of the law are fairly and fully complied with may be admitted; and where from any cause it is found impracticable to obtain the certificate of the builder, other competent evidence establishing the particulars and facts required to be certified by him may be admitted, with the approval of the Commissioner of Navigation.

T. 5479, 8233.

The time of build is the year of completion. The place T, Ds. 5009, of build is where the hull was built. Both must be declared on all marine documents.

Art. 29. Surveyor's certificate.-Before a vessel is documented she must be measured by the surveyor of the port; if there be no surveyor, by the collector.

The officer making such measurement will grant a certificate, on Commerce Form 1414, specifying the build of such vessel, and whether she be a steam vessel or otherwise, whether her hull be of iron, steel, or wood; and if a steam vessel, whether she has side wheels or a screw; also the number of her decks and masts, her length, breadth, depth, the number of tons she measures; that her name is painted on each bow, and that her name and home port are painted on her stern, and also that her tonnage is deeply carved or otherwise marked on her main beam, in conformity to law, and such other particulars as are descriptive of the identity of a vessel, according to the form prescribed, which must be countersigned in token of assent by an owner, or by the master, or by an agent of the owner or owners, and preserved as a permanent record in the customhouse.

R. S., 4148.

R. S., 4149.

R. S., 4177.

Act July 5,

Art. 30. Official number and signal letters.-Every docuruented vessel is required by law to have an official num- 1884. ber given by the Commissioner of Navigation, upon application (Commerce Form 1320) of the master or owner through the collector of customs.

For all seagoing vessels of 100 tons or over numerals T. D. 5816. and letters are to be designated, and for all other vessels numerals only. Signal letters may be also assigned to vessels of less than 100 tons when special application is made therefor through the collector.

R. S., 4153.
Act June 19,

R. S., 4177.

Art. 31. Marking of official number and tonnage. The official number of a vessel must be carved or marked per- 1886, secs. 5, 6. manently on her main beam, preceded by the abbreviation "No.," and her name, number, and signal letters must appear in all her documents. The net tonnage must also be carved or marked permanently on her main beam.

Such marking must be upon the face of the beam under T. D. 5816. the forward side of the main hatch of seagoing and lake vessels, and on the face of the beam under the afterside of the starboard forward hatch of western river steamers. On river steamers of the coast which carry passengers both above and below main deck, where there is no hatch 3130°-15- -3