OFFICERS AND MERCHANT SEAMEN 149 



Statutes shall, for every such offense, upon conviction, be punished 

 by a fine of not more than $500 or by imprisonment at hard labor 

 for a term not exceeding three years. 



Officers' Competency Certificates Convention, 1936 [Enabling 

 Act] 



46 U.S.C. 224a (R.S. 4438a) 



(1) That the Officere' Competency Certificates Convention, 1936 

 (International Labor Organization Draft Convention Numbered 53, 

 "concerning the minimum requirement of professional capacity for 

 masters and officers on board merchant ships"), as ratified by the 

 President on September 1, 1938, with understandings appended, 

 and this section shall apply to all vessels, however propelled, navi- 

 gating on the high seas, which are registered, enrolled and licensed, 

 or licensed under the laws of the United States, whether perma- 

 nently, temporarily, or provisionally, including yachts enrolled and 

 licensed, or licensed, with the exception of — 



(a) ships of war; 



(b) Grovemment vessels, or vessels in the service of a public 

 authority, wJiich are not engaged in trade; 



(c) wooden ships of primitive build, such as dhows and junks; 



(d) imrigged vessels; 



(e) all vessels of less than two hundred gross tons. 



(2) All laws in effect on the effective date of this section cover- 

 ing the issuance, duration, renewal, suspension, and revocation of 

 licenses of masters, mates, chief engineei-s, and assistant engineers 

 be, and they are hereby, made applicable to the issuance, duration, 

 renewal, suspension, or revocation of licenses of masters, mates, chief 

 engineers, and assistant engineers of all vessels to which the Officers' 

 Competency Certificates Convention, 1936, and this section apply, to 

 such extent and upon such conditions, as may be required by the 

 regulations of the Commandant of the Coast Guard : Provided^ That 

 examinations for licenses of masters, mates, chief engineers, and as- 

 sistant engineers of fishing vessels, not subject to the inspection laws 

 of the United States, shall be oral : Provided further, That appli- 

 cants for licenses as masters, mates, chief engineers, and assistant 

 engineers of fishing vessels not subject to the inspection laws of the 

 United States shall not be required to obtain a certificate from the 

 United States Public Health Service based upon the subject of ship 

 sanitation, and first aid. 



(3) Any license issued (whether before, or on, or after, the effec- 

 tive date of this section) to a master, mate, chief engineer, or assist- 

 ant engineer of a vessel to which this section applies shall be deemed 

 to be a certificate of competency for a master or skipper, navigating 

 officer in charge of a watch, chief engineer or engineer in charge of 

 a watch, respectively. 



(4) No person shall be engaged to perform, or shall perform on 

 board any vessel to which this section applies, the duties of master, 

 mate, chief engineer, or assistant engineer unless he holds a license 

 to perform such duties, issued in accordance with the provisions of 



