R. S., 4482. R. S., 4488. Sec. 8. 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. 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 life-preservers or floats shall be kept in convenient and accessible places on such vessel in readiness for immediate use in case of accident. Every steamer navigating the ocean, or any lake, bay, Mar. 3, 1905. or sound of the United States, shall be provided with such numbers of lifeboats, floats, rafts, life-preservers, line-carrying projectiles, and the means of propelling them, and drags, as will best secure the safety of all persons on board such vessel in case of disaster; and every seagoing vessel carrying passengers, and every such vessel navigating any of the northern or northwestern lakes, shall have the lifeboats required by law, provided with suitable boat-disengaging apparatus, so arranged as to allow such boats to be safely launched while such vessels are under speed or otherwise, and so as to allow such disengaging apparatus to be operated by one person, disengaging both ends of the boat simultaneously from the tackles by which it may be lowered to the water. And the board of supervising inspectors shall fix and determine, by their rules and regulations, the character of lifeboats, floats, rafts, life-preservers, line-carrying projectiles, and the means of propelling them, and drags that shall be used on such vessels, and also the character and capacity of pumps or other appliances for freeing the steamer from water in case of heavy leakage, the capacity of such pumps or appliances being suited to the navigation in which the steamer is employed. Every vessel subject to the provisions of this title [R. S., 4399-4500] shall, while in operation, carry one life-preserver for each and every person allowed to be carried on said vessel by the certificate of inspection, including each member of the crew: Provided, however, That upon such vessels and under such conditions as are specified in section fortyfour hundred and eighty-two floats may be substituted for life-preservers. Any person who willfully and knowingly manufactures or sells, or offers for sale, or has in his possession with intent to sell, life-preservers containing metal or other nonbuoyant material, for the purpose of increasing the weight thereof, or more metal or other such material than is reasonably necessary for the construction thereof, or who shall so manufacture, sell, offer for sale, or possess with intent to sell any other articles commonly used for preservation of life or the prevention of fire on board vessels subject to the provisions of this title, which articles shall be so defective as to be inefficient to accomplish the purposes for which they are respectively intended and designed, shall upon conviction, be fined not more than two thousand dollars, and may, in addition thereto, in the discretion of the court, be imprisoned not exceeding five years. Feb. 14, 1903. Sec. 10. The owner of any such steamer who neglects or refuses R. S., 4489. to provide such life-boats, floats, rafts, life-preservers, Mar. 2, 1889. line-carrying projectiles and the means of propelling them, drags, pumps, or appliances, as are, under the provisions of the preceding section, required by the board of supervising inspectors, and approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall be fined one thousand dollars. 135. Stairways and deck room. Every such steam-vessel carrying passengers on the R. S., 4484. main-deck shall be provided with permanent stairways and other sufficient means, convenient to the passengers, for their escape to the upper deck, in case of the vessel sinking or of other accident endangering life; and in the stowage of freight upon such deck, where passengers are carried, gangways or passages, sufficiently large to allow persons to pass freely through them, shall be left open both fore and aft of the vessel, and also to and along the guards on each side. The captain or mate of every such steam-vessel carry- R. 8., 4485. ing passengers upon the main-deck shall assign to all deck-passengers, when taking passage, the space on deck they may occupy during the voyage, and such space shall not thereafter be occupied by freight, nor overcrowded by other persons, nor shall freight be stowed about the boilers or machinery, in such a manner as to obstruct or prevent the engineer from readily attending to his duties. For every violation of the provisions of the two pre- R. S., 4486. ceding sections the owners of the vessel shall be punished by a fine of three hundred dollars. 136. Wire tiller ropes. Every steamer carrying passengers shall be provided with such tiller ropes, tiller rods, or chains for the purpose of steering and navigating the vessel, and such bellpulls for signalizing the engineer from the pilot house, and such tubes or other arrangement to repeat back the signal to the pilot house, as may be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 137. Protection against fire. 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 to the different compartments thereof to extinguish fire, or such other R. 8., 4471. suitable apparatus as may be prescribed by the regulations of the board of supervising inspectors, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, for extinguishing fire in the hold and compartments thereof by the introduction through pipes into such hold and compartments of carbonic acid gas or other fire-extinguishing gas or vapor; 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 woodwork or other ingnitible substances about the boilers, chimneys, cook houses, and stovepipes, 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 woodwork or other ignitible substance; and before granting a certificate of inspection the inspector shall require all other necessary provisions to be made throughout such vessels to guard against loss or danger from fire. 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 presssure 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 June 30, 1906. when she is afloat. Every steamer shall also be provided with a pump which shall be of sufficient strength and suitably arranged to test the boilers thereof. Every steamer carrying passengers during the night- R. S., 4477. 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. For any neglect to keep the watchmen required by the R. S., 4478. 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. The board of supervising inspectors may require steam- R. S., 4479. ers 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. Every such steam vessel carrying passengers shall keep such fire buckets, axes, and water barrels as shall be prescribed by the regulations established by the board of supervising inspectors, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. The buckets and barrels shall be kept in convenient places and filled with water, to be in readiness in case of fire, and the axes shall be kept in good order and ready for immediate use. Tanks of suitable dimensions and arrangement, or buckets in sufficient number, may be substituted for barrels. Every barge carrying passengers, while in tow of any R. S., 4492. steamer, shall be subject to the provisions of this Title [R. S., 4399-4500] relating to fire-buckets, axes, life-preservers, and yawls, to such extent as shall be prescribed by the board of supervising inspectors; and for any violation of this section the penalty shall be two hundred dollars, recoverable one-half for the use of the informer. 138. Inflammable or explosive cargo. Upon the application of any master or owner of any R. S., 4422. steam-vessel employed in the carriage of passengers, for a license to carry gunpowder, the local inspectors shall examine such vessel, and if they find that she is provided with a chest or safe composed of metal, or entirely lined and sheathed therewith, or if the vessel has one or more compartments thoroughly lined and sheathed with metal, at a secure distance from any fire, they may grant a certificate to that effect, authorizing such vessel to carry as freight, within such chest, safes, or compartments, the article of gunpowder. Mar. 3, 1905. No loose hay, loose cotton, or loose hemp, camphene, R. S., 4472. nitroglycerin, naphtha, benzine, benzole, coal oil, crude or refined petroleum, or other like explosive burning fluids, or like dangerous articles, shall be carried as freight or May 28, 1906. R. S., 4473. 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 and secured in such manner as shall be prescribed by the regulations established by the board of supervising inspectors with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor; 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 practicable 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 Commerce and Labor; 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 covers 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 Commerce and Labor. Nothing in the foregoing or following sections of this Act shall prohibit the transportation by steam vessels of gasoline or any of the products of petroleum when carried by motor vehicles (commonly known as automobiles) using the same as a source of motive power: Provided, however, That all fire, if any, in such vehicles or automobiles be extinguished immediately after entering the said vessel, and that the same be not relighted until immediately before said vehicle shall leave the vessel: Provided further, That any owner, master, agent, or other person having charge of passenger steam vessels shall have the right to refuse to transport automobile vehicles the tanks of which contain gasoline, naphtha, or other dangerous burning fluids. Provided, however, That nothing in the provisions of this Title shall prohibit the transportation by vessels not carrying passengers for hire, of gasoline or any of the products of petroleum for use as a source of motive power for the motor boats or launches of such vessels. 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. |