CONTENTS CHAPTER FOREWORD I. HISTORY Early Development in the Regulation of the Merchant Marine: Origin and Growth of the Bureau of Navigation: 1884-1903 . PAGE VII I I 3 II Investigation and Report on the Operation of the Laws Re- 28 Decision of Questions Relative to the Payment or Repayment Shipment, Discharge, and Protection of the Interests of 46 Radio-Communication Facilities for engagement of seamen Supervision of the engagement and discharge of seamen Making of apprenticeships. Other statutory duties of shipping commissioners Enforcement of the Navigation Laws. Issue and Enforcement of Special Regulations Decision Relative to the Mitigation or Remission of Fines, III. ORGANIZATION 48 49 54 62 70 73 STANFOR THE BUREAU OF NAVIGATION ORGANIZATION CHAPTER I HISTORY BRARY The Bureau of Navigation, a service organized within the Department of Commerce, has, as its primary function, the administration of that body of substantive law known as the Navigation Laws, enacted for the purpose of supervising and regulating the merchant marine of the United States. Early Developments in the Regulation of the Merchant Marine: 1789-1884. At a very early date in the history of the United States, Congress entered upon the work of regulating the merchant marine. In fact, the recognized need of uniform regulation of navigation and shipping was one of the potent reasons for the formation of a more perfect union of the states. The third act of the First Congress, approved July 20, 1789 (1 Stat. L., 27), imposed a duty on the tonnage of vessels. This was followed on September 1, 1789 (1 Stat. L., 55), by an act providing for the registering and clearing of vessels and the regulation of the coastwise trade, which is still the foundation of the navigation laws, and until 1912 embodied the marine policy of the United States. Succeeding congresses have built upon this foundation a system of laws designed to meet the growth and variety of conditions of our waterborne commerce, with increasing regard in the course of years for the safety of human life. It was not until 1872, however, that any steps were taken looking to the establishment of a special service or the appointment of special officers for the enforcement of those acts. Prior to that date the duty of administering the laws regulating navigation was intrusted to the circuit courts, the collectors and surveyors of customs, the Register of the Treasury, and certain other officers of the Treasury Department. In 1872 a beginning was made toward the creation of a special service for the enforcement of the navigation laws through the passage of the act of June 7, 1872 (17 Stat. L., 262), providing for the appointment of shipping commisstoners at the more important ports of the country. These officers, whose duties were modeled after those of the mercantile marine officers of Great Britain and somewhat similar officers in Germany, France, and other countries, were to administer those portions of the navigation laws having to do with the shipping, discharge, and care of seamen on American merchant vessels. Their specific duties, as defined in the act, were: (1) To afford facilities for engaging seamen by keeping a register of their names and characters; (2) to superintend their engagement and discharge; (3) to provide means for securing the presence on board at the proper times of men so engaged; (4) to facilitate the making of apprenticeships to the sea-service; and (5) to hear and to decide questions which masters and men mutually agreed to submit to them. The act authorized the judges of the circuit courts, in whose circuits there were collection (customs) districts or ports of entry, to appoint such officers at their discretion, the judges to exercise the power of removal, supervision, and control over shipping commissioner thus appointed. These officers were given no salary, the law providing that they should be compensated by the payment to them, by owners of vessels, of fees for shipping and discharging seamen. Clerical service and suitable quarters were to be provided by the shipping commissioners at their own expense. Collectors or deputy collectors of customs were authorized to perform the duties of shipping commissioners in ports where the amount of work required did not justify the appointment of such officers. The passage of this act relieved the cricuit courts of a large amount of work in connection with the shipment of seamen and the adjudication of petty controversies between masters and men. The act of June 26, 1884 (23 Stat. L., 53, 58), further relieved the circuit courts of duties in respect to these laws by providing that, thereafter, the shipping commissioners should be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, who was given full supervision and control over the work of these officers. The fees were required to be paid into the Treasury of the United States, to constitute a fund to be used under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury to pay the compensation of the commissioners and their clerks, determined by the Secretary, and such other expenses as he might deem necessary to ensure the proper administration of their duties. Origin and Growth of the Bureau of Navigation: 1884-1903. By act of July 5, 1884 (23 Stat. L., 118), the important step was taken of creating a special service, known as the Bureau of Navigation, under the Treasury Department, with the duty of supervising the work having to do with the administration of the navigation laws. This act made few, if any, changes of importance in respect to the administration of the work in the field. Its purpose was simply to concentrate responsibility for the enforcement of these laws in a distinct service. The act specificially allotted to the bureau the numbering of vessels and the preparation of the annual list of merchant vessels of the United States from the Bureau of Statistics; the preparation of annual reports of tonnage, the filing of marine documents of vessels, and the signing of ships' registers from the Register's office; the supervision of the collection of the tonnage tax and the decision of questions relating to the merchant marine and merchant seamen from the office of the Secretary of the Treasury; the supervision of shipping commissioners' offices and employees and the shipment and discharge of seamen, and other matters under the general clause giving the Commissioner of Navigation general jurisdiction over the commercial marine and merchant seamen of the United States. The bureau was placed under the immediate charge of a Commissioner of Navigation appointed by the President, by and with the 1 The preparation of an annual statement of merchant vessels registered, enrolled, and licensed under the laws of the United States was one of the duties imposed upon the Director of the Bureau of Statistics by the act of July 28, 1866 (14 Stat. L., 328, 331), creating that bureau. Previous to the passage of this act, the annual report on the commerce and navigation of the United States, prepared by the Register of the Treasury under authority of the act of February 10, 1820 (3 Stat. L., 541), contained statistics showing merely the tonnage of vessels entering and clearing in the ports of the United States. This report was continued under authority of the act of 1866, the work of compilation being assigned by the latter act to the Director of the Bureau of Statistics. |