A vessel is built to navigate the seas and not to stay in a port, and does not acquire a stilts in one port rather than another by reason of frequently visiting it ; Southern Pac. Co. v. Kentucky, 222 U. S. 63, 32 Sup. Ct. 13, 56 L. Ed. 96.
An American vessel, outside the jurisdic tion of a foreign power, is, for some purposes at least, a part of the American territory ; The Scotia, 14 Wall. (U. S.) 170, 20 L. Ed. 822.
Foreign-built vessels registered under the act of August 24, 1912, are not permitted to engage in coastwise trade.
Vessels navigated to a port are subject to distinct duties and obligations, and are not dutiable as imported merchandise; The Con queror, 166 U. S. 110, 17 Sup. Ct. 510, 41 L. Ed. 937.
Vessels must have their names marked on them ; 2 Supp. R. S. 541.
By proclamation of November 21, 1913, the president promulgated certain rules for the measurement of vessels for the Panama Canal, applying to vessels, all commercial, army and navy, supply, and hospital ships, and rules applicable to vessels of war.
By act of Aug. 18, 1914, the words "not more than five years old at the time they ap ply for registry" were stricken from section five of the Panama Canal Act, and the presi dent was authorized to suspend the provision of law that all watch officers of all United States vessels registered for foreign trade shall be citizens of the United States, and those requiring survey, inspection and meas urement by officers of the United States of foreign-built vessels admitted to registry un der the act.
The Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which was signed at London, January 20, 1914, but which the United States Senate has not yet ratified, provides : "At no mo ment of its voyage may a ship have on board a total • number of persons greater than that for whom accommodation is provided in the lifeboats and the pontoon life-rafts on board." The number and arrangdment of the boats, and (where they are allowed) of the pontoon rafts, depend upon the total number of persons which the ship is Intend ed to carry ; provided the total capacity greater than that necessary to accommodate all the persons on board. Each boat must be of sufficient strength to enable it to be safely lowered with its full complement of persons and equipment. Suitable arrange
ments shall be made for embarking passen gers in the boats. The davits shall be of sufficient strength to lower the boats with their full complement, the ship being assum ed to have a list of 15 degrees. The davits must be fitted with a gear of sufficient power to ensure that the boat can be turned out against the maximum list under which the lowering of the boats is possible.
A life jacket of an approved type, or other appliance of equal buoyancy and capable of being fitted on the body, shall be carried for every person on board, and in addition a suf ficient number of life jackets or equivalent appliances suitable for children.
Each boat or raft is required to have a minimum number of certificated lifeboatmen, by which is meant a member of the crew who holds a certificate of efficiency issued under the authority of the administration concerned, in accordance with the regulations of the Convention. Special duties for emer gencies shall be allotted to each member of the crew and the muster list -must show these special duties and indicate each man's station and his duties.
The carriage, either as cargo or ballast, of goods which by reason of their nature, quan tity, or mode of stowage, are, either singly or collectively, likely to endanger the lives of the passengers or the safety of the ship, is forbidden.
Limitation of Liability of Vessel Owners. While the civil as well as the common law made the owner responsible to the whole ex tent of damage caused by the wrongful act or negligence of the master or crew ; Davies 175; 9 East 432 ; under the maritime law ok modern Europe the owner's liability was merely coextensive with his interest in the vessel and its freight, and ceased by his abandonment and surrender of these to the parties sustaining loss.
As said by Brown, J., in The Main v. Wil liams, 152 U. S. 126, 14 Sup. Ct. 486, 38 L. Ed. 381, this rule is stated in the code known as Consolato del Mare, but there is no ref erence to it in the Laws of Oleron, or of Wis by, or of the Hanse towns, which were the maritime codes followed in Northern Europe (see Corm). The earliest legislation in Eng land was in 1734.