Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 2, 1878

No. 216.
Sir Edward Thornton to Mr. Evarts.

Washington, September 16, 1878. (Received September 16.)

Sir: With reference to previous correspondence upon the subject of the proposed international regulations for preventing collisions at sea, I have the honor to state that I am now informed by the Marquis of Salisbury that no country has expressed general dissent from them, and that the Governments of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal have formally expressed their concurrence in the draught submitted for their approval by Her Majesty’s Government.

Further modifications, as shown in the paper herewith inclosed, were, however, suggested by the Governments of the United States, Belgium, Denmark, and Germany, and have been very carefully considered by the joint committee appointed by the Admiralty, Trinity House, and Board of Trade, to whom they were referred.

I have the honor to inclose a copy of the remarks of the committee upon the suggestions of your Government which were transmitted to me by you, and which I forwarded to the Marquis of Salisbury.

His lordship has now instructed me, in bringing these facts to the notice of the Government of the United States, to communicate to you the documents herein inclosed, and to express the hope of Her Majesty’s Government that the text of the proposed regulations, as finally adopted by the joint committee, and as contained in the accompanying paper, will meet with the approval of your Government.

Should additional alterations be now proposed, it is to be feared that the governments who are satisfied with the rules as they stand may make objections and that further difficulties will be occasioned in bringing to a final close an arrangement which is substantially agreed to, and which, for the safety of shipping generally, it is desirable to bring into operation as soon as possible.

As I am confident that the Government of the United States will see the expediency of an early decision being come to upon the subject, I venture to hope that you will invite the attention of the proper department to it in order that I may receive an answer as soon as may be convenient.

I have, &c.,

EDWD. THORNTON.

[Inclosure.]

Reply to the United States.

Art. 12. A steamship under sail and not under steam is, within the meaning of the regulations, a sailing-ship. The object, therefore, of requiring a fog-horn to be on board steamships is that a steamer, if the engine breaks down, or if for other reasons the ship is under sail, may be provided with the proper means of signaling as a sailing-ship. Its use is, according to the regulations as they stand, limited, as suggested in the United States Criticism, to times when the steam-whistle is not available.

As regards the suggestion that the intervals mentioned, (a) (b) and (c), should be one minute instead of two, the committee are of opinion that a rule requiring these signals to be always sounded at so short an interval as one minute would be very difficult, if not impossible, to enforce, and might, by making the signals too frequent, lead to confusion and danger in crowded waters. It is to be observed that the rules, as they stand, make the interval of two minutes the maximum, and that consequently they are not inconsistent with the United States Statutes, which prescribe for local purposes an interval of not more than one minute.