Government ship

“ Keeping the direction in its own hands, the Government started with a preconceived theory of the standard ship—a theory that might be of great value to a builder of revolutionary ideas laying the foundations of a prosperity to be enjoyed twenty years hence, but is of considerably less value to a nation that is losing steamers at the rate of fifteen or twenty a week, and wants new steamers now. ”

“ A privateer cruised in pursuit of the enemy’s commerce and went to sea for no other purpose, while a letter-of-marque vessel carried a cargo to a destined port or ports, taking prizes if they came in her way and defending herself against the enemy as a regularly commissioned private ship of war under heavy bonds to her government to obey the rules of warfare. ”

“ Nothing in these rules shall interfere with the operation of any special rules made by the government of any nation with respect to additional station and signal lights for two or more ships of war or for vessels sailing under convoy, or with the exhibition of recognition signals adopted by ship owners, which have been authorized by their respective governments and duly registered and published.
ART. 14. A steam vessel proceeding under sail only, but having her funnel up, shall carry in daytime forward, where it can best be seen, one black ball or shape 2 feet in diameter. ”

“ Optimum use of navigational systems varies as a function of the type of vessel, the quality of the navigational equipment on board, and the experience and skill of the navigator and all the members of his team.
For the watch officer, ensuring the ship’s safety always takes priority over completing operational commitments and carrying out the ship’s routine. Navigation is his primary responsibility. ”

“ Navigating a vessel is a dynamic process. Schedules, missions, and weather often change. Planning a voyage is a process that begins well before the ship gets underway. Executing that plan does not end until the ship ties up at the pier at its final destination. While it is possible to over plan a voyage, it is a more serious error to under plan it. Carefully planning a route, preparing required charts and publications, and using various methods to monitor the ship’s position as the trip proceeds are fundamental to safe navigation and are the marks of a professional navigator. ”

“ The Art And Science Of Navigation Marine navigation blends both science and art. A good navigator constantly thinks strategically, operationally, and tactically. He plans each voyage carefully. As it proceeds, he gathers navigational information from a variety of sources, evaluates this information, and determines his ship’s position. ”

“ We have heard much of the fleets of Britain, and the time may come, if we are wise, when the fleets of America may engage attention. But if one national Government had not so regulated the navigation of Britain as to make it a nursery for seamen—if one national Government had not called forth all the national means and materials for forming fleets, their prowess and their thunder would never have been celebrated. ”

“ Water in motion is called a current; the direction toward which it moves is called set, and its speed is called drift. Modern shipping speeds have lessened the impact of currents on a typical voyage, and since electronic navigation allows continuous adjustment of course, there is less need to estimate current set and drift before setting the course to be steered. Nevertheless, a knowledge of ocean currents can be used in cruise planning to reduce transit times, and current models are an integral part of ship routing systems. ”

“ An ECS may be considered as an additional resource used to ensure safe navigation, but cannot be relied upon for performing all the routine tasks associated with piloting. The individual navigator, with knowledge of his vessel, his crew, and the capabilities they possess, must make a professional judgement as to how the ECS can support his efforts to keep his ship in safe water. The navigator should always remember that reliance on any single navigation system courts disaster. ”

“ The resources available will vary according to the size of the ship, its mission, its crew, its shoreside management, funding, and numerous other variables. No two vessels are alike in resources, for even if two ships of a single class are alike in every physical respect, the people who man them will be different, and people are the most important resource the navigator has. ”

“ While errors can be computed to the nearest tenth of a degree or so, it is seldom possible to steer a ship that accurately, especially when a sea is running, and it is reasonable to round calculations to the nearest half or perhaps whole degree for most purposes. ”

“ At that time the commercial greatness of the United States rested upon the splendid qualities shown by her sailing ships and their captains upon the ocean. And after all the only really rational sovereignty of the seas that exists, or has ever existed, is maintained by the merchant marine, whose ships and seamen contribute not only to the welfare and happiness of mankind, but also to the wealth of the nations under whose flags they sail. ”

“ The act of Congress declares that “no person shall build, fit, equip, load, or otherwise prepare any ship or vessel, to sail from any port of the United States, for the purpose of carrying on any trade or traffic in slaves to any foreign country.” And it declares that “if any ship or vessel shall be so fitted out as aforesaid, or shall be caused to sail as aforesaid, such ship or vessel shall be forfeited to tho United States.” ”

“ The full significance of internal waves has not yet been determined, but it is known that they may cause submarines to rise and fall like a ship at the surface, and they may also affect sound transmission in the sea. ”

“ This we think was a mistaken view of the force and effect of the suggestion. Admittedly a vessel of a friendly government in its possession and service is a public vessel, even though engaged in the carriage of merchandise for hire, and as such is immune from suit in the courts of admiralty of the United States. ”

“ The ships built by the contract companies have far exceeded in speed and other essential qualities the ships constructed by Government. A far greater amount of service was obtained, at a cost much less than would be incurred by Government in building, equipping, manning, and running national vessels for even a partial performance of the same service. Individual and associated skill, enterprise, and capital were called into requisition, and, aided by Government means, contributed to enlarge, extend, and fortify the naval and commercial power of England. ”

“ The insufficiency of our navy must be a subject of serious consideration. When the constitutional Government assumed its functions, the armed vessels, Brutus and Invincible, were in the Port of New York, and remained there until a few weeks past, when they returned, but without either crews or provisions for a cruise. ”

“ Because the shipping industry is vitally important both to our national commerce and national defense, the Federal Government has maintained a special interest in trying to promote its growth and stability. ”

“ The consequences of collision or grounding for a large, modern ship carrying tremendous quantities of high-value, perhaps dangerous cargo are so severe that authorities have instituted many types of regulations and control systems to minimize the chances of loss. These range from informal and voluntary systems to closely controlled systems requiring strict compliance with numerous regulations. The regulations may concern navigation, communications, equipment, procedures, personnel, and many other aspects of ship management. ”

“ The traditional naval policy of the country was thus not reflected in the action of the country’s government, because that policy had no representation in the Navy’s counsels. There is, perhaps, no single heresy for which so high and disastrous a price has been paid. ”

“ It really does appear to me that a public-armed vessel ought, in war or peace, to have a right to ascertain the character of all merchant-ships, at least on the coast of the country to which the cruisers belong. ”

“ The regulations say that you cannot interfere with the management of the vessel, or with the officers and seamen in the discharge of their duty. If the vice-principal is not on board, the professors can’t meddle with the navigation of the ship. ”

“ Any ship-of-war or merchant vessel of either of the High Contracting Parties which may be compelled by stress of weather, or by reason of any other distress, to take shelter in a port of the other, shall be at liberty to refit therein, to procure all necessary supplies, and to put to sea again, without paying any dues other than such as would be payable by national vessels. ”

“ If an American vessel has British property on board, or has been spoken by a British cruiser, a French public armed vessel is bound to make prize of her. This being the case, let us for a moment consider the subject as respects ourselves. Our feelings ought to be for ourselves and our country. Here is a nation having public ships, having a right to come into your ports. Does it comport with our honor and dignity to admit into our ports and harbors the very vessels destroying our commerce? ”

“ The Congress, a fifty-gun ship, is one of the finest vessels of her class. She is a model of strength and symmetry in hull and spars, and of imposing and effective equipment in her batteries and armament; never failing to attract the notice of all who have an eye to appreciate a chef d’œuvre in naval architecture. 10She is, too, a swift messenger over the waters, as well as a tower of strength and beauty on the sea. ”

“ It has been wisely fostered by our sovereigns, who have felt that the security of the kingdom is increased by every man being more or less a sailor, or connected with the nautical profession. It is an amusement of the greatest importance to the country, as it has much improved our ship-building and our ship-fitting, while it affords employment to our seamen and shipwrights. ”

“ I most sincerely trust that Government will do everything in its power to encourage and induce seamen to make more use than they now do of these most valuable offices. These and education, more than stringent legislative enactments, are the instruments whereby the power of the crimp is to be crushed, and our seamen elevated to the position of our mechanics. ”

“ That statute, that in its day may have [68] sufficed to set a standard of law and order to the moderate crews of our sailing ships, is utterly inadequate to control effectively the large ship's company of our modern steam vessels. The men, too, are changed—the sailormen, perhaps, not greatly—but, with the thundering evolution of steam-power, we have drawn grown men to the fires, ready-made men, uninfluenced by traditions of sea-service. ”

“ More attention should be given to merchant ships as an auxiliary of the Navy. The possibility of including their masters and crews in the Naval Reserve, with some reasonable compensation, should be thoroughly explored as a method of encouraging private operation of shipping. ”

“ The Empire has to determine the method of ascertaining the burden of sea-going vessels, to grant bills of admeasurement, as well as to regulate the ship-certificates, and to determine the conditions upon which the permission to command a sea-going vessel depends. ”

“ The ship, documented under the laws of the United States, is the instrumentality of our maritime enterprise, the prime object of our maritime policy. The ship 'from the moment her keel touches the water' becomes 'a subject of admiralty jurisdiction'; she acquires personality; she becomes competent to contract, is individually liable for her obligations, and is responsible for her torts. ”

“ The augmentation of the navy was the ne plus ultra of his national policy, and had his views upon this point been carried out by our government, our nation would now have been mistress of the seas, instead of having scarcely armed vessels enough to protect the expanding commerce of our enterprising merchants—a fact that has become a by-word among other nations, and has often crimsoned the cheeks of liberal minded Americans. ”

“ To compel the nation with challenge the traditional American doctrine of freedom of the seas, every man and every ship in the navy is solemnly pledged. ”

“ That the great steamship lines sailing under the flags of England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, and engaged in foreign commerce, were .promoted and have since been and now are liberally aided by grants of public money in one form or another is generally known. That the American lines of steamships have been abandoned by us to an unequal contest with the aided lines of other nations until they have been withdrawn, or in the few cases where they are still maintained are subject to serious disadvantages, is matter of common knowledge. ”

“ One of these nations interdicted to our vessels all harbors of the globe without having first proceeded to some one of hers, there paid a tribute proportioned to the cargo, and obtained her license to proceed to the port of destination. The other declared them to be lawful prize if they had touched at the port, or been visited by a ship of the enemy nation. Thus were we completely excluded from the ocean. ”

“ No duties of tonnage, harbor, pilotage, lighthouse, quarantine, or other similar or corresponding duties of whatever nature, or under whatever denomination levied in the name or for the profit of Government, public functionaries, private individuals, corporations, or establishments of any kind, shall be imposed in the ports of the territories of either country upon the vessels of the other country which shall not equally and under the same conditions be imposed in the like cases on national vessels in general or vessels of the most favored nation. ”