132 RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR FREEBOARD. 
APPENDIX IT. 
66TH CONGRESS, 
IST SESSION. 
H. R. 3621 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES. 
OcToBER 14 (calendar day, OcTOBER 16), 1919. 
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce. 
AN ACT 
To establish load lines for certain vessels. 
Be tt enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled, That this act shall apply to the following vessels: 
(a) Cargo-carrying vessels of five hundred gross tons or over loading at any 
port or place within the United States or its possessions for a foreign voyage by sea. 
(6) Cargo-carrying vessels of the United States of five hundred gross tons or 
over loading at any foreign port or place for a voyage by sea. 
(c) Other vessels loading at any port or place in the United States or its posses- 
sions, whenever, in the judgment of the Secretary of Commerce, the safety of such 
vessels and their crews requires the establishment of a legal load line. 
SEc. 2. That the Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized and directed 
in respect of the vessels defined in section 1 (a) and (0) of this act and is hereby 
authorized in respect of the vessels defined in section I (c) of this act to establish 
by regulations from time to time the load water lines and marks thereof indicating 
the maximum depth to which such vessels may safely be loaded. Such regulations 
shall have the force of law. 
SEc. 3. That it shall be the duty of the owner and of the master of every vessel 
subject to this act and to the regulations established thereunder, to cause the load 
line or lines so established to be permanently and conspicuously marked upon the 
vessel in such manner as the Secretary of Commerce shall direct, and to keep the 
same so marked. The Secretary of Commerce shall appoint the American Bureau 
of Shipping, or such other corporation or association for the survey or registry 
of shipping as may be selected by him, to determine whether the position and 
manner of marking on such vessels the load line or lines so established are in accord- 
ance with the provisions of this act and of the regulations established thereunder: 
Provided, however, That, at the request of the shipowner, the Secretary of Commerce 
may appoint, for the purpose aforesaid, any other corporation or association for 
the survey or registry of shipping which the shipowner may select and the Secretary 
of Commerce approve; or the Secretary of Commerce may appoint for said purpose 
any officer of the Government, who shall perform such services as may be directed 
