10 SAFETY OF LIFE AT SEA. APPLICATION OF SUBDIVISION 



VESSELS AFFECTED BY THE CONVENTION. 



Trade Routes. — Referring to Senate Document No. 463, Convention Article 

 2 specifies that — 



"Except where otherwise provided by this Convention, the merchant vessels of 

 any of the states of the High Contracting Parties which are mechanically propelled, 

 which carry more than twelve passengers and which proceed from a port of one 

 of the said states to a port situated outside that state, or conversely, are subject to 

 the provisions of this Convention. Ports situated in the colonies, possessions or 

 protectorates of the High Contracting Parties are considered to be ports outside 

 the states of the High Contracting Parties." 



Convention Article 3 requires that — 



"There are excepted from this Convention, save in the cases where the Con- 

 vention otherwise provides, vessels making voyages specified in a schedule to be 

 communicated by each High Contracting Party to the British Government at the 

 time of ratifying the Convention." 



"No schedule may include voyages in the course of which the vessels go more 

 than 200 sea miles from the nearest coast." 



Referring to Senate Document No. 463, page 78, line 8, the Chairman of the 

 United States Commissioners reports to the President of the United States that — 



"In the case of the United States such over-sea possessions include the Philip- 

 pines, Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Canal Zone. Alaska, Hawaii and Porto 

 Rico are included under the coasting laws of the United States, and the American 

 delegation was instructed not to commit the United States to coasting regulations." 



Vessels trading between a port on the east coast of the United States and a 

 port on the west coast of the United States, via the Panama Canal or conversely, 

 will be in the coasting trade, unless they stop at a port during the voyage. If, for 

 example, one of these vessels should have any transactions, passenger or freight, 

 with the cities of Colon or Panama, the vessel would have to be registered for the 

 foreign trade and would be subject to the Convention requirements. 



Referring to Senate Document, No. 463, page 78, line 35, the "immense trade 

 on the Great Lakes is not brought under the Convention." 



Types of Vessels. — Referring to Senate Document No. 463, page yy, line i — 



"The Convention applies to mechanically propelled (steam, motor, and internal 

 combustion) merchant vessels which carry more than twelve passengers. * * * 

 The American delegation at the outset favored the preparation of a convention 

 which should also apply to freight steamers. It soon became evident, however, that 

 to draft the different rules required for freight steamers would prolong the confer- 

 ence much beyond the time this delegation was prepared to remain, and would also 



