any vessel subject to the inspection laws of the United States if, in their judgment, such vessel is not sufficiently manned for her safe navigation: Provided, That this section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels, yachts, or motor boats as defined in the Act of June ninth, nineteen hundred and ten.

Rest before going on watch.

It shall be unlawful for the master, owner, agent, or other person having authority, to permit an officer of any vessel to take charge of the deck watch of the vessel upon leaving or immediately after leaving port, unless such officer shall have had at least six hours off duty within the twelve hours immediately preceding the time of sailing, and no licensed officer on any ocean or coastwise vessel shall be required to do duty to exceed nine hours of any twenty-four while in port, including the date of arrival, or more than twelve hours of any twenty-four at sea, except in a case of emergency when life or property is endangered. Any violation of this section shall subject the person or persons guilty thereof to a penalty of one hundred dollars. (Sec. 3.)

Master Liable. The improper keeping of watch comes clearly under the head of negligence, or even misconduct, and the law governing this is of importance. The penalty, when death results from such negligence, misconduct, etc. is TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FINE or IMPRISONMENT FOR TEN YEARS, OR BOTH.

The law is given below:

Death from negligence, misconduct, etc.

Every captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed on any steamboat or vessel, by whose misconduct, negligence, or inattention to his duties on such vessel the life of any person is destroyed, and every owner, charterer, inspector, or other public officer, through whose fraud, neglect, connivance, misconduct, or violation of law the life of any person is destroyed, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both: Provided, That when the owner or charterer of any steamboat or vessel shall be a corporation, any executive officer of such corporation, for the time being actually charged with the control and manage

ment of the operation, equipment, or navigation of such steamboat or vessel, who has knowingly and willfully caused or allowed such fraud, neglect, connivance, misconduct, or violation of law, by which the life of any person is destroyed, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. (Sec. 282; Repeals R. S., 5344, and act Mar. 3, 1905, sec. 5.)

Watch officers should also heed another matter, a section of Rule V, of the Board of Supervising Inspectors, this rule is also given:

Only certain persons allowed in pilot house and on navigator's bridge.

17. Masters and pilots of steamers carrying passengers shall exclude from the pilot houses and navigator's bridge of such steamers, while under way, all persons not connected with the navigation of such steamers, except officers of the Steamboat-Inspection Service, Coast Guard, and engineer officers of the United States Army in charge of the improvement of that particular waterway, when upon business: Provided, That licensed officers of steamboats, persons regularly engaged in learning the profession of pilot, officers of the United States Navy, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and Lighthouse Service, assistant engineers of the Engineer Department of the United States Army connected with the improvement of that particular waterway, and the engineer officers connected with the construction and operation of the Panama Canal may be allowed in the pilot house or upon the navigator's bridge upon the responsibility of the officer in charge.

The master of every such passenger and ferry steamer shall keep three printed copies of this section of Rule V posted in conspicuous places on such steamer, one of which shall be kept posted in the pilot house.

Such printed copies shall be furnished by the Department of Commerce to local inspectors for distribution. (Sec. 4405, R. S.)

Relieving the Watch. On well-conducted vessels no part of the routine is so important, and so necessary of clear-cut understanding, as the matter of turning over the watch.

On a steamer in which the writer had the good fortune

to serve a liner in the Transatlantic service-this formality was practiced with the utmost precision.

The officer in charge of the watch would keep facing ahead, near the telegraph, if the weather was thick. He would turn over the data of the watch rapidly and clearly; the relieving officer having already read over and initialed the Captain's order book.

Special orders from the Captain.
Position-how obtained-when.

Vessels passed; in last hour, at least.
Weather-fog if any; sea rising or falling.

Wind, veering, or hauling.

Distance made by log-revolutions.
Soundings taken-if any.

Lights sighted, or expected; if in pilot waters.
How vessel was steering-wild-good-etc.

THEN-being ready to turn over the watch:

"The course is N. 76 degrees east," says the Officer of the Watch.

"N. 76 degrees, east," is the reply, and the moment these words are spoken the relief is in charge, and steps next to the telegraph.

An Incident at Eight Bells. This simple ceremony of turning the watch over took place one morning at eight bells it was a smoky channel morning, heavy weather had been met with on the run eastward, and the train for London was waiting at Southampton, for the first-class passengers who expected to dine at the metropolis that night. It was foggy, and the vessel was doing close to twenty knots; the telegraphs at "stand by." Everything had been passed over to the relief. The quartermasters and juniors had

relieved each other, two watches were on the bridge at once, in the cold wet mist. One crowd, still a trifle sleepy, but filled with a sea breakfast, the other tired and wet.

Just as the course was being given, and half completed, something leapt out of the gray fog:

*Three toots on the horn in the crow's nest, sounded and a four-masted sailer shot up, as if a picture thrown on the screen of fog ahead.

"Hard Starb'd!" the order snapped out on the tail of the words of the course. The wet and draggled officer of the watch had not yet received his reply-he was still in charge.

His order came with the harsh jangle of the telegraphhe was stopping the port engine-and we swept past an iron four-masted ship, her crew clambering to the bulwarks, her sails slatting in the breeze, as we got the first sound of her horn.

The above is an instance where something happened at a critical moment. But both officers were trained men, and the man in charge knew he was still responsible, and acted without a second of delay.

Responsibility. Few men, aside from those who serve as officers at sea, have the responsibility of life and property so directly under them as the officers of the watch.

The young man who takes his first watch as officer in charge with the great vessel-her lives-and cargo, all obedient to his order and dependent upon his skill and quickness in the sudden emergency that may spring up at any moment; that youngster is to be congratulated. Few men are given the direct handling and responsibility for such mighty forces.

He, in most cases, realizes this. Accidents are usually * Three toots vessel (or light) ahead.

the outgrowth of carelessness, resulting from long watches at sea where nothing ever happens.

It is necessary that the officer of the watch constantly keep his edge. The old-fashioned system of "watch and watch," that man- and soul-killing drill of an age of shortsighted “economy," has come to be frowned upon by those who have had to pay the bills resulting from accident and loss.

The Officer of the watch should come to the bridge fresh and in full vigor. His senses of sight and hearing should be acute; he should be completely awake during the whole four hours of his duty.

He should constantly keep in mind what he must do under certain emergencies.

He should constantly be rehearsing disaster-with foresight as his mentor.

He must have ingrained in his being the instinctive knowledge of PORT and STARBOARD, and what they mean. Not as words, but as effects.

He should be a part of the ship. The direction of her head, or the action of her engines, should be as natural to him as any movement of his own body.

This habit of mind enables an officer to act as quick as he can think-to do the right thing without an instant of hesitation.

Rules of the Road. The rules of the road should also be a part of his unconscious knowledge—particularly those rules relating to the prevention of collision at sea.

Many watch officers-familiar with the rules of the Road on the high seas, are lamentably lax when conning their vessel through narrow waters; here is where a great percentage of the accidents to vessels occur. Know the inland