Barges or canal boats towing alongside a steam vessel shall, if the deck, deck houses, or cargo of the barge or canal boat be so high above water as to obscure the side lights of the towing steamer, when being towed on the starboard side of the steamer, carry a green light upon the starboard side; and when towed on the port side of the steamer, a red light on the port side of the barge or canal boat; and if there is more than one barge or canal boat abreast, the colored lights shall be displayed from the outer side of the outside barges or canal boats.

Barges and canal boats, when being towed by steam vessels on the waters of the Hudson River and its tributaries from Troy to Sandy Hook, the East River, and Long Island Sound (and the waters entering thereon, and to the Atlantic Ocean), to and including Narragansett Bay, R. I., and tributaries, and Lake Champlain, shall carry lights as follows:

Barges and canal boats being towed astern of steam vessels, when towing singly or what is known as tandem towing, shall each carry a white light on the bow and a white light on the stern. Barges and canal boats, when towed at a hawser two or more abreast, when in one tier, shall carry a white light on the bow and a white light on the stern of each of the outside boats; when in more than one tier, each of the outside boats shall carry a white light on its bow; and the outside boats in the last tier shall each carry, in addition, a white light on the outer after part of stern.

Barges or canal boats towed alongside a steam vessel, if on the starboard side of said steam vessel, shall display a white light on her own starboard bow; and if on the port side of said steam vessel, shall display a white light on her own port bow; and if there is more than one barge or canal boat alongside, the white lights shall be displayed from the outboard side of the outside barge or canal boat: Provided, That car floats of 200 feet or over in length shall have a white light at each outboard corner of said floats.

When barges or canal boats are massed in tiers and towed at a hawser, as is usual on the Hudson River, there shall be carried on the forward port side of the port boat of each tier a white light, and on the forward starboard side of the starboard boat in each tier a white light, and on the after port side of the port boat in the stern tier a white light, and on the after starboard side of the starboard boat in the stern tier a white light.

The white lights for barges and canal boats referred to in the preceding rules shall be carried at least ten feet and not more than thirty feet abaft the stem or extreme forward end of the vessel, above the deck rail of the vessel on single-decked vessels, and on the upper deck of double or three-decked barges or canal boats; and shall be of such a character as to be visible on a dark night, with a clear atmosphere, at a distance of at least five miles.

The colored side lights referred to in these rules for barges and canal boats in tow shall be fitted with inboard screens, so as to prevent them from being seen across the bow, and of such a character as to be visible on a dark night, with a clear atmosphere, at a distance of at least two miles, and so constructed as to show a uniform and unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of ten points of the compass, and so fixed as to throw the light from right ahead to two points abaft the beam on either side. The minimum size of glass globes shall not be less than six inches in diameter and five inches high in the clear.

Any barge or canal boat in tow of a steam vessel, when the last boat of a tow, and not required by these rules to carry a light on the stern, on being overtaken by another vessel, shall show from her stern to such last-mentioned vessel a flare-up light; or, in lieu thereof, a white light fixed and carried in a lantern, which shall be so constructed, fitted, and screened that it shall throw an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of twelve points of the compass, viz, for six points from right aft on each side of the vessel, so as to be visible at a distance of at least one mile.

Provided, That nothing in these rules shall be construed as compelling barges or canal boats in tow of steam vessels, passing through any waters en route or directly to or from a port where lights for barges or canal boats are different from those of the waters whereon such vessels are usually employed, to change their lights from those required on the waters from which their trip begins or terminates; but should such vessels engage in local employment on waters requiring different lights from those where they are customarily employed, they shall comply with the local rules where employed.

LIGHTS FOR SCOWS IN TOW.

All scows being towed by hawser behind steam vessels shall carry a regulation white light at each end of each scow (such lights to be carried not less than eight feet above the surface of the water, and so as to show all around the horizon), except that when scows are massed in tiers, two or more abreast, each of the outside boats shall carry a white light on its outer bow; and the outside boats in the last tier shall each carry, in addition, a white light on the outer part of the stern.

LIGHTS FOR RAFTS AND OTHER WATER CRAFT NAVIGATING THE INLAND WATERS OF THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC COASTS, PROPELLED BY HAND POWER, HORSEPOWER, OR BY THE CURRENT OF THE RIVER.

[Authority: Art. 9 (d), act of Congress approved June 7, 1897.]

Any vessel, except rafts and rowing boats under oars, navigating by hand power, horsepower, or by the current of the river, shall carry one white light forward, not less than eight feet above the surface of the water.

Rafts propelled by hand power or by the current of the river, or which shall be anchored or moored in or near a channel or fairway, shall carry white lights, as follows:

Rafts of

Rafts of one crib and not more than two in length shall carry one white light. three or more cribs in length and one crib in width shall carry one white light at each end of the raft. Rafts of more than one crib abreast shall carry one white light on each outside corner of the raft, making four lights in all.

The white light required by these rules for rafts and other water craft shall be carried, from sunset to sunrise, in a lantern so fixed and constructed as to show a clear, uniform, and unbroken light, visible all around the horizon, and of such intensity as to be visible on a dark night with a clear atmosphere at a distance of at least one mile. The lights for rafts shall be suspended from poles of such height that the lights shall not be less than eight feet above the surface of the

water.

RULE RELATING TO THE USE OF SEARCHLIGHTS.

The Board of Supervising Inspectors, at their annual meeting of January, 1905, adopted the following rule relating to the use of searchlights:

Any master or pilot of any steam vessel who shall flash or cause to be flashed the rays of the searchlight into the pilot house of a passing vessel shall be deemed guilty of misconduct and shall be liable to have his license suspended or revoked.

RULE PROHIBITING UNNECESSARY SOUNDING OF THE STEAM WHISTLE.

[Authority: Act of Congress approved February 8, 1907.]

The Board of Supervising Inspectors, at their annual meeting of January, 1907, adopted the following rule:

Unnecessary sounding of the steam whistle is prohibited within any harbor limits of the United States. Whenever any licensed officer in charge of any steamer authorizes or permits such unnecessary whistling, upon conviction thereof before any board of inspectors having jurisdiction such officer shall be suspended from acting under his license as the inspectors trying the case may deem proper.

REGULATIONS FOR TOWS.

[From Department Circular No. 180, Bureau of Navigation, December 7, 1908. Authority: Act of Congress, approved May 28, 1908.]

1. Tows of seagoing barges navigating the inland waters of the United States are limited in length to four vessels, including the towing vessel or vessels.

2. Hawsers are limited in length to 75 fathoms, measured from the stern of one vessel to the bow of the following vessel; and should in all cases be as much shorter as the weather or sea will permit.

3. In cases where the prescribed length of hawser is, in the opinion of the master of the towing vessel, dangerous on account of the state of weather or sea, hawsers need not be shortened to that length until reaching the localities named below.

(a) Tows bound for Hampton Roads or beyond, before passing Thimble Light. (b) Tows bound up the Chesapeake, to the northward of Baltimore Light.

(c) Tows bound up the Delaware, between Fourteen Foot Bank and Cross Ledge lighthouses.

Hawsers may also be lengthened in the same places, under the same circumstances, when tows are bound out.

4. In case of necessity, on account of wind or weather, hawsers of vessels navigating between. Race Rock and Gay Head may be lengthened out in the discretion of the master of the towing vessel; but this paragraph shall not apply to Narragansett Bay north of Beavertail light.

5. In all cases where tows can be bunched it should be done.

(a) Tows navigating in the North and East rivers of New York must be bunched above a line drawn between the Statue of Liberty and the entrance to Erie Basin. When tows are

entering Long Island Sound from the westward, the lines may be lengthened out to the prescribed length after passing Fort Schuyler; and when bound for New York from Long Island Sound tows must be bunched before passing Whitestone Point.

(b) Tows must be bunched above the mouth of the Schuylkill River, Pennsylvania.

6. Section 15 of the act approved May 28, 1908, provides:

That the master of the towing vessel shall be liable to the suspension or revocation of his license for any willful violation of regulations issued pursuant to section fourteen in the manner now prescribed for incompetency, misconduct, or unskillfulness.

7. Any violation of these regulations shall be reported in writing as soon as practicable to the board of local inspectors of steam vessels most convenient to the officer or other person who may witness the violation.

INLAND WATERS ON THE ATLANTIC COAST OF THE UNITED STATES WHERE THE INLAND RULES OF THE ROAD ARE TO BE FOLLOWED;

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(Bearings are magnetic and given approximately.)

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NANTUCKET SOUND, VINEYARD SOUND, BUZZARDS BAY, NARRAGANSETT BAY, BLOCK ISLAND SOUND, AND EASTERLY ENTRANCE TO LONG ISLAND SOUND.-A line drawn from Chatham light-houses, Mass., S by E 3% E, about 6 miles, to Northeast Slue Channel whistling buoy (Pollock Rip); thence S by W 5% W, about 11 miles, to Great Round Shoal light-vessel; thence SSW 5% W, 75% miles, to Sankaty Head light-house; from the westerly end of Tuckernuck Island NW by W 2 W, about 51⁄2 miles, to Wasque Point, Chappaquiddick Island; from Gay Head light-house W 34 S, 35 miles, to Block Island (SE) light-house; thence W 34 S, 15 miles, to Montauk Point light-house, on the easterly end of Long Island, N. Y.

NEW YORK HARBOR. From Navesink (southerly) light-house NE 5% E, easterly, to Scotland light-vessel; thence NNE 1⁄2 E, through Gedney Channel whistling buoy to Rockaway Point life-saving station.