282 SOCIETY NAVAL ARCHITECTS AND MARINE ENGINEERS. 



"I may say a few more words in conclusion. Our work will no doubt be criticised. So 

 far as the criticism originates with interested parties we can ignore it ; and so far as it orig- 

 inates with disinterested parties, our answer must be that we have done our best, that we have 

 done it with anxious care and, as we believe, in the true interests of those who travel by sea. 



"Gentlemen, you have been engaged in perfecting a great work, which I am firmly con- 

 vinced will be of lasting benefit to mankind. Much more than this, however — you have, per- 

 haps unconsciously, but nevertheless most surely, by the spirit of courtesy and conciliation 

 which has been displayed throughout your deliberations, contributed greatly to the increase 

 of mutual respect and confidence among the nations, and thereby to the peace and happiness 

 of the world at large." 



Chapter II. 

 VESSELS TO WHICH THIS CONVENTION APPLIES. 



PASSENGER VESSELS. 



The convention applies to mechanically propelled (steam, motor, and internal combus- 

 tion) merchant vessels which carry more than 12 passengers (Art. 2). The laws of the 

 United States at present treat as a passenger vessel any steamer carrying even one passenger ; 

 but not infrequently the Department of Commerce remits or mitigates penalties incurred by 

 freight steamers which carry three or four passengers between ports, as on the rivers of 

 Alaska at certain seasons or to ports in Central America or Mexico, at which passenger 

 steamers are not available, but to and from which Americans must proceed in the course of 

 business. The limit of 12 persons is that fixed by British law and was the compromise ac- 

 cepted as against the limit of 20 proposed by others. 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 conference much beyond the time this delegation was prepared to remain, 

 and would also so overload the conference that much less satisfactory conclusions as to pas- 

 senger steamers could be reached. This difficulty was particularly serious in the matter of 

 hull construction, where the problems connected with cargo are somewhat different from those 

 connected with passenger steamers. Furthermore, an international conference is to be held 

 at London later this year to consider uniform load lines and deck loads, and Congress has pro- 

 vided for American representation at this conference which will consider more particularly 

 cargo vessel problems. (See recommendation 12 after the final protocol.) 



Nevertheless, cargo vessels are brought as far as practicable within the scope of the 

 pending convention. Chapter III relating to safety of navigation applies to cargo vessels as 

 well as passenger vessels (Art. 5), particularly in Articles 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13. Chapter V, 

 relating to radiotelegraphy, applies to cargo vessels having on board fifty persons or more, 

 as does the law of the United States (Art. 31). 



TRADES UNDER THE CONVENTION. 



The convention applies to mechanically propelled vessels carrying more than 12 passen- 

 gers when in trade (Art. 2) : 



