Office of the Historian

No. 285.
Mr. Stevens to Mr. Evarts.

United States Legation,
Tokei, Japan, January 15, 1879. (Received February 24.)
No. 32.]

Sir: The regulations for licensing pilots of foreign-built vessels, issued by His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Government in December, 1876, duplicate copies of which Mr. Bingham transmitted to the Department in his No. 510, dated February 25, 1877, have been revised, as you will observe, by the inclosed translation of a proclamation issued on the 9th ultimo, by His Excellency, Iwakura Tomomi, junior prime minister, which proclamation is accompanied by a copy of the revised regulations.

I have caused copies of these regulations to be forwarded to our several consuls in Japan, and have informed them that the same should be observed by American citizens.

The issuance of these regulations and their proper enforcement will supply a want long felt in this country. The need of uniform rules for the regulation of pilotage in Japanese waters has been the subject of much discussion, and as those which I have the honor to inclose seem well adapted to the purposes for which they were issued, it is to be hoped that they will have the concurrence and support of all foreign authorities in Japan.

I have, &c.,

D. W. STEVENS.
[Inclosure in No. 32.]

Proclamation is hereby made that the rules for licensing pilots for foreign-built vessels, published in No. 154, of date the 12th month of the 9th year of Meiji (December, 1876), have been revised as follows:

Iwakura Tomomi Udaijin
9th of 12th month of 11th year Meiji (December 9, 1878).

rules for licensing pilots of foreign-built vessels.

  • Article I. From and after the 1st of January, 1879, licenses issued according to these rules shall be furnished to persons who follow the business of pilots to foreign-built vessels, and also to all boats used as pilot boats for foreign-built vessels in the ports or pilot-districts mentioned herein below.
  • Art. II. The control of all matters affecting the business of pilots belongs to the department of the interior, in which department a well qualified person or persons shall be chosen to examine all applicants for examination under these rules.
  • Art. III. Licences shall be furnished to pilots in the ports or pilot-districts mentioned below in this article, and also to pilots in other places when deemed requisite.
    1.
    The Bay of Tokio. This is bounded by a line passing from Iromisaki, in the province of Idzu, through Kamikomotogima, in the same province, and Hafuno, Minato, Oshima, to Noshima Misaki, in the province of Awa.
    2.
    Idzumi Nada, This district is bounded on the south by a line passing from Mi-yamisaki, in Kishu, to Nihiro Ushiwosaki, in the province of Awaji, and on the north by a line drawn in the 135th degree east longitude, in the extreme north of the province (island) of Awaji.
    3.
    From Idzumi Nada, through the Inland Sea, to Nagasaki.
    4.
    The port of Nagasaki. This district is bounded by a line passing from Fukuda [Page 618] Mura, in the province of Hizen, through the extreme north of Iwoshima, in the same province, by Okinoshima and Koyakishima to Fukabori, all in Hizen.
    5.
    The Strait of Sugaru. This district is bounded on the east by a line drawn from Shiriyasaki, in the province of Mutsu, to Hezansaki, in the province of Oshima; on the south by a line drawn from Otna Mura, to Tabisaki, both in the province of Mutsu, and on the west by a line drawn from Tabisaki, in Mutsu, to Shirakamisaki, in Oshima.
  • Art. IV. The number of licensed pilots to be provided for each port or pilot-district will be regulated to meet the wants of the particular port or district.
  • Art. V. An applicant for license to act as a pilot must prepare and send into the department of the interior, through the government office of his native place, Or place of residence, a reliable account of his attainments, character, and especially of his previous course of life, or else hand it directly to the examining official at the place of examination.
  • Art. VI. Pilots must be full twenty-two years of age, and must have acted at least one year as the captain of a foreign-built vessel of 100 tons and upwards, or as the first officer of such vessel, or they must have followed the sea six years, one of which must have been spent in learning practically to act as a pilot in the pilot-district in which license is requested. They must be thoroughly acquainted with all the harbors, bays, straits, anchorages, and dangerous places in the pilot-district, and also with the principal signals for avoiding dangerous places, directions or points of the compass, the ebb and flow of the tide, tide-currents, light-houses, and the locality of buoys and signals. They must also satisfy the examiner or examiners of their perfect ability to command and maneuver large vessels.
  • Art. VII. When the examiners are satisfied that an applicant who has been examined is quite competent, they shall signify the fact to the department of the interior, and a license shall be furnished at once. This license shall expire on the 1st of the 1st month of the following year.
  • Art. VIII. Applicants for the renewal of license shall send in their applications to the department of the interior before the 1st day of the 11th month of each year. The granting or withholding such renewal rests, however, entirely with said department.
  • Art. IX. Persons who have lost or mutilated their licenses shall make application to the department of the interior, stating the facts in the case, and have their licenses made out anew.
  • Art. X. Pilots shall pay a fee of ten yen for a license at first and one yen for each renewal.
  • Art. XI. When pilots are to be examined proclamation shall be made in both Japanese and foreign newspapers at least fourteen days before the day fixed. Said proclamation shall specify the number of persons to be licensed and the place and time of examination.
  • Art. XII. When the statements or accounts (see Article V) of the applicants for examination are regarded as satisfactory, the names of such applicants shall be recorded in the order of their application, which shall also be the order of their examination.
  • Art. XIII. Foreigners who shall obtain license to act as pilots under these rules shall have special permission, while engaged in this business, to land on any part of the coast of the empire of Japan and to return to the place from which they departed by land.
  • Art. XIV. In the pilot-districts mentioned in article III unlicensed pilots, when engaged in piloting vessels, shall always surrender the work to licensed pilots when asked or signaled by such licensed pilots to do so. Those who refuse to do so, or who feign to be licensed pilots or use a forged license, shall be liable to a fine of not more than fifty yen.
  • Art. XV. The pilot fees fixed in the annexed table are not to be exceeded. For places not therein mentioned the fees are to be fixed according to the distance by fair contract between the captain and the pilot.
  • Art. XVI When two or more licensed pilots ask to pilot a vessel or signal to do so at the same time, the one first on board shall pilot the vessel and obtain the fee.
  • Art. XVII. Pilot-boats used only for this purpose by licensed pilots shall be made as directed in sections 1 and 2 of Article XIX, and shall be licensed by the department of the interior upon request, and after inspection. This license, like that of a pilot, is good for one year; renewal is to be requested every year.
  • Art. XVIII. Licensed pilot-boats, when used for the sole purpose of conducting vessels in the pilot-districts where license was obtained, shall be exempted from all port, bay, tonnage, or light-house dues.
  • Art. XIX. All pilot-boats shall be distinguished in the following manner:
    1.
    The outside shall be all painted black.
    2.
    The words “Licensed pilot-boat” and the number shall be clearly written in Japanese and Roman letters on the stem of the boat and on the upper part of the large sail.
    3.
    When licensed pilots are on hoard a licensed pilot-boat, a pilot flag shall be displayed from sunrise to sunset on the mast, at the prow of the boat on a flag-staff, or some other places where it may be easily seen. Such flag must conform to the description given in notification No. 1 of the navy department of date the 1st month of the 10th year of Meiji.
    4.
    A licensed pilot-boat containing licensed pilots, both when at anchor at its station or when moving about, shall display a white bright light at the top of its mast where it may be easily seen from all points on the horizon during the night, from sundown to sunrise, and shall discharge flashing lights every fifteen minutes, and at all other times shall display the ordinary side lights in the same manner as sailing-vessels.
  • Art. XX. When in the day time the following signals are displayed, they shall be regarded as indicating that a pilot is wanted:
    1.
    The ship’s jack or the national flag hoisted on the fore mast.
    2.
    Hoisting and showing the international pilot signal letters P. T.
  • When the following signals are made at night, either simultaneously or at different times, they shall be regarded as indicating that a pilot is needed:
    1.
    The display of a green light every fifteen minutes.
    2.
    The display of a clear white light after short intervals of about a minute each at the side of the upper deck.
  • Art. XXI. A copy of these rules shall be furnished to each licensed pilot along with his license; hence, when the proper officials or employer requests permission to examine his documents he shall exhibit them at once; if he refuses to do so, he shall be restrained from acting as a pilot by the department of the interior or have his license taken away.
  • Art. XXII. This license shall not be lent or given to another. If so lent or given the holder shall be deprived of it by the department of the interior.
  • Art. XXIII. When in the opinion of the department of the interior a licensed pilot is unable to perform his work or is a drunkard or negligent, or with cause fails to discharge his duties, said department shall instruct an officer to investigate the case, and according to the finding shall restrain him from the exercise of his duties or take away his license.