96 AMERICAN CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN VESSELS. 



the classification societies which insure that vessels built in accordance therewith will have 

 the required strength to successfully meet the varying conditions of ocean traffic. It is to 

 be noted that such rules are not on a purely academic basis but are the result of mathemati- 

 cal investigation applied to sea experience with all types of construction, wherein stresses 

 are kept within well-defined limits. 



MERCHANT MARINE ACT. 



The salient features of such rules were well known to the framers of the Merchant Ma- 

 rine Act of 1920, which, having been signed by the President of the United States, is now 

 a law. 



This act provides for the classification of vessels, other than military, owned by the 

 United States, and for such other purposes in connection therewith as are the proper func- 

 tions of a classification bureau. The act directs that all departments, boards, bureaus and 

 commissions of the Government recognize the American Bureau of Shipping as their agency, 

 so long as that bureau continues to be maintained as an organization which has no capital 

 stock and pays no dividends. This being the case, it is deemed proper and opportune to 

 review the history of the only existing American classification society and to show its growth 

 and present condition. 



HISTORY. 



On April 22, 1862, the legislature of the State of New York incorporated the American 

 Shipmasters' Association, the incorporators being men well known in shipping and maritime 

 insurance. 



The purposes of the association were those of collecting and disseminating information 

 upon subjects of marine or commercial interest, of encouraging and advancing worthy and 

 well-qualified commanders and other ofificers of vessels in the merchant service, of ascertain- 

 ing and certifying the qualifications of such persons as shall apply to be recommended as 

 commanders or officers, and of promoting the seciu-ity of life and property on the seas. 



The last-named purpose necessarily carried with it the preparation and adoption of 

 rules for construction and survey which, when complied with in the construction of a vessel, 

 entitled it to classification in the association. 



The association continued to function imder the title of "The American Shipmasters' 

 Association" until the first of November, 1898, when, by order of the Supreme Court of the 

 State of New York, the Association was authorized to assume another corporate name, 

 namely, "The American Bureau of Shipping." 



The Bureau affairs are administered by representatives of shipping interests in its 

 broadest sense, and, although the Bureau is incorporated, it has no shares upon which divi- 

 dends are payable. In other words, it has no capital stock and pays no dividends. 



During the period which had elapsed from its original incorporation as The American 

 Shipmaster's Association and its continuation as The American Bureau of Shipping, the work 

 of classification had been chiefly confined to American built coastwise vessels. At one time 

 the shipping interests of the United States under Federal aid, in the shape of wise legislation 

 and encouragement, had assumed large proportions, but upon the withdrawal of such aid, and 

 acquiescence with treaties decidedly favorable to foreign shipping, these interests gradually 

 declined. This shrinkage, resulting in the relatively small amount of merchant shipbuilding 

 done here, combined with the lack of vision on the part of the Bureau in not making alliances 



