SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA. APPLICATION OF SUBDIVISION RULES 

 ADOPTED AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE. 



By James Donald, Esq., Member. 



[Read at the twenty-second general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in 



New York, December 10 and 11, 1914.] 



On the invitation of the Secretary of the Society of Naval Architects and 

 Marine Engineers, the preparation of this paper has been undertaken, and an ef- 

 fort has been made to handle it from the viewpoint of the man who must apply 

 the rules to actual designs. 



As the members of this Society already know, a preliminary committee was ap- 

 pointed by the Secretary of Commerce in May, 19 13, for the purpose of obtaining 

 information relative to structural subdivision of vessels, this information being for 

 the use of the Department of Commerce and the representatives who would repre- 

 sent the United States at a later date at the International Conference on Safety at 

 Sea in London. 



In June, 19 13, a circular letter was sent by the Secretary of Commerce to all 

 those interested in matters affecting American shipping, and in September, 1913, a 

 report was made to the Secretary of Commerce by the preliminary committee em- 

 bodying the information received from these interested parties. 



Eleven commissioners were sent to London to represent the President of the 

 United States of America at the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea 

 which was held from November 12, 1913, till January 20, 1914. 



In April, 19 14, there was published by the Government Printing Office, Senate 

 Document No. 463,* Sixty-third Congress, second session. It is entitled: — "Inter- 

 national Conference on Safety of Life at Sea," and contains Messages from the 

 President of the United States transmitting an authenticated copy of the Interna- 

 tional Convention relating to Safety of Life at Sea, the detailed regulations there- 

 under, a final protocol, and the "voeux" expressed by the conference, all signed at 

 London, January 20, 1914; and a Report from the United States Commissioners 

 to the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea, giving a summary of the 

 subjects considered and the conclusions arrived at as embodied in the Convention, 

 together with the Report of Andrew Furuseth submitted to the President after his 

 resignation as Commissioner from the United States, and a Memorial of the Inter- 

 national Seamen's Union of America. 



Hereafter in this paper, wherever the aforementioned Senate Document is re- 

 ferred to, it will simply be called Senate Document No. 463. 



In order to apply the rules adopted by the International Convention it is neces- 

 sary to know what vessels are affected by the Convention. 



♦Published as an appendix to this Volume. 



