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134. Wire tiller ropes.

Every steamer carrying passengers shall be provided R.S., 4480, 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 pilothouse, 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.

135. Protection against fire.

Every steamer carrying passengers or freight shall be R.S., 4470. 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 fas tened, 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 cir-. culate 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.

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 throwingwater. 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

R. S., 4471.

R. S., 4477.

R. S., 4478.

R. S., 4479.

R. S., 4483.

R. S., 4492.

R. S., 4422.

pump, of at least one-half the vessel in length, kept at all
times in perfect order, and shipped up and ready for imme-
diate use.
On every steamer not exceeding two hundred
tons, one of such pumps may be dispensed with. Each fire-
pump thus described 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 provided with a pump which shall be of suffi-
cient strength and suitably arranged to test the boilers
thereof.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 arrangements, or buckets in sufficient number, may be substituted for barrels.

Every barge carrying passengers, while in tow of any 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.

136. Inflammable or explosive cargo.

Upon the application of any master or owner of any 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.

No loose hay, loose cotton, or loose hemp, camphene, R. S., 4472. nitro-glycerine, 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 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 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 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.

Feb. 14, 1903.

sec. 10.

Feb. 14, 1903.

Sec. 10.

Nothing in the foregoing or following sections of this Feb. 20, 1901. 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 before entering the said vessel, and that the same be not relighted until after said vehicle shall have left the same: 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

R. S., 4473.

R. S., 4474.

Sec. 10.

vehicles the tanks of which contain gasoline, naphtha, or other dangerous burning fluids.

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.

The Secretary of Commerce and Labor may grant perFeb. 14, 1903. mission 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 motivepower, 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 Commerce and Labor, a special license for the use of such process or invention shall issue under the seal of the Department of Commerce and Labor.

Oct. 18, 1888.

Feb. 14, 1903.
Sec. 10.

R. S., 4475.

R. S., 4476.

The Secretary of Commerce and Labor may permit the use of petroleum as fuel on steamers not carrying passengers, without the certificate of the supervising inspector of the district where the vessel is to be used, subject to such conditions and safeguards as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor in his judgment shall provide. For a violation of any of the conditions imposed by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor a penalty of five hundred dollars shall be imposed, which penalty shall be a lien upon the vessel, but a bond may, as provided in other cases, be given to secure the satisfaction of the judgment.

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.

Every person who packs or puts up, or causes to be packed or put up for shipment, any gunpowder, nitroglycerine, 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 imprisonment 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.

Every person who knowingly transports, or delivers or R. S., 5353. causes to be delivered, nitro-glycerine, nitroleum or blasting-oil or nitrated oil, or powder mixed with any such oil, or fiber saturated with any such substance or article, on board any vessel or vehicle whatever, employed in conveying passengers by land or water between any place in a foreign country and any place within the United States, or between a place in one State, Territory, or district of the United States and a place in any other State, Territory, or district thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars; one-half to the use of the informer.

When the death of any person is caused by the explosion R. S., 5354. of any quantity of such articles, or either of them, while the same is being placed upon any vessel or vehicle, to be transported in violation of the preceding section, or while the same is being so transported, or while the same is being removed from such vessel or vehicle, every person who knowingly placed or aided, or permitted the placing of such articles upon such vessel or vehicle, to be so transported, is guilty of manslaughter, and shall suffer imprisonment for a period not less than two years.

Every person who knowingly ships, sends, or forwards R. S., 5355. any quantity of the articles mentioned in section fifty-three hundred and fifty-three, or who transports the same by any mode of conveyance upon land or water, between any of the places specified in that section, unless such articles be securely inclosed, deposited, or packed in a metallic vessel surrounded by plaster of Paris, or other non-explosive material when saturated with such oil, and separated from all other substances, and the outside of the package be marked, printed, or labeled in a conspicuous manner with the words "nitro-glycerine; dangerous," shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand nor more than five thousand dollars; one-half to the use of the informer.

137. Carriage of passengers.

The inspectors shall state in every certificate of inspec- R.S., 4464. tion 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.

It shall not be lawful to take on board of any steamer a R. S.,4465. 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.

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