available from the copies of records kept by the Coast Guard. In other cases of loss the seaman may obtain a duplicate of such continuous discharge book, certificate of identification, or certificates of discharge, containing the same entries, upon a payment of a sum equivalent to the cost thereof to the Government to be determined from time to time by the Commandant of the Coast Guard.

(i) The provisions of this section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts.

(j) The Commandant of the Coast Guard shall enforce this section as to all vessels of the United States subject to the provisions hereof through collectors of customs and other Government officers acting under the direction of the Coast Guard, and shall make such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.

(k) Where vessels are required to sign on and discharge the crew before a Coast Guard official to whom the duties of shipping commissioner have been delegated and no Coast Guard official is appointed or is available the functions and duties required by subsections (d) and (e) of this section to be performed by such Coast Guard official may be performed by a collector or deputy collector of customs; and where vessels are not required to sign on and discharge the crew before such Coast Guard official the duties and functions required by subsections (d) and (e) of this section to be performed by such Coast Guard official shall be performed by the master of such vessel. Any master who shall fail to perform such duties or functions shall be fined in the sum of $50 for each offense. (1) The master of every vessel subject to the provisions of this section shall submit, over his signature, reports to the Coast Guard of the employment, discharge, or termination of services of every seaman not shipped or discharged before a Coast Guard official to whom the duties of shipping commissioner have been delegated, which reports shall contain such of the following information as may be required by regulation of the Commandant of the Coast Guard: (1) name of vessel, official number, voyage number, port, date, description of voyage, name in full of each seaman, number of continuous discharge book or certificate of identification and of license, certificate of registry, or service, and efficiency for rating in which employed, age, citizenship, capacity in which engaged, date and place of engagement, date and place of discharge or separation from service of vessel, the percentage of citizens of the United States in the crew, and name in full of the master and the serial number of his license; (2) a statement showing (a) that the master has entered into an agreement with each seaman on board such vessel as required by law; (b) that at least 65 per centum of the deck crew (exclusive of licensed officers) are of a rating not less than able seamen; (c) that at least 75 per centum of the crew in each department are able to understand orders given by the officers; (d) that the vessel has in her service the number of lifeboatmen required by her certificate of inspection; (e) that each member of the crew possesses a license, certificate of registry, or certificate of service for the rating in which he is engaged, and (f) that each lifeboatman possesses a certificate of efficiency. The Commandant of the Coast Guard shall,

by regulation, prescribe the form and content of such reports and time of submitting them. This subsection shall not apply to any ferry or any tug used in connection with a ferry operation, if such ferry or tug is employed exclusively in trade on the Great Lakes, lakes (other than the Great Lakes), bays, sounds, bayous, canals, and harbors, and is not engaged on an international voyage. Any master who shall violate any provision of this subsection or regulations established hereunder shall be subject to a penalty of $500. Continuous discharge book and certificate of identification; extension of section 643(b) to other vessels and waters in national interest

46 U.S.C. 643b

The President is hereby authorized, whenever in his judgment the national interest requires, to extend the provisions of subsection (1) of section 643 of this title, to such additional class or classes of vessels and to such waters as he may designate.

Continuous discharge book and certificate of identification; exception as to unrigged vessels

46 U.S.C. 643a

Provisions of section 643 of this title shall not apply to unrigged vessels except seagoing barges.

Requirements, qualifications, and regulations as to crews 46 U.S.C. 672(a)

No vessel of one hundred tons gross and upward, except those navigating rivers exclusively and the smaller inland lakes and except as provided in section 569 of this title, shall be permitted to depart from any port of the United States unless she has on board a crew of not less than 75 per centum of which, in each department thereof, are able to understand any order given by the officers of such vessel, nor unless 65 per centum of her deck crew, exclusive of licensed officers and apprentices, are of a rating not less than able seamen. Every person shall be rated an able seaman, and qualified for service as such on the seas, who is nineteen years of age or upward, and has had at least three years' service on deck at sea or on the Great Lakes, on a vessel or vessels to which this section applies, including decked fishing vessels, and vessels in United States Government service; and every person shall be rated an able seaman, and qualified to serve as such on the Great Lakes and on the smaller lakes, bays, or sounds who is nineteen years of age or upward and has had at least eighteen months' service on deck at sea or on the Great Lakes or on the smaller lakes, bays, or sounds, on a vessel or vessels to which this section applies, including decked fishing vessels and vessels in the United States Government service; and graduates of school ships approved by and conducted under rules prescribed by the Commandant of the Coast Guard may be rated able seamen upon graduation in good standing from said schools ships; Provided, That no boy shall be shipped on any vessel

to which this section applies unless he meets the physical qualifications contained in regulations to be prescribed by the Commandant of the Coast Guard and that no boy shall be placed on the lookout or at the wheel except for the purpose of learning, and that in narrow and crowded waters or in low visibility none below the rating of able seaman shall be permitted at the wheel: Provided further, That no deck boy shall be held qualified to fill the place of ordinary seaman until he has had at least six months' service as deck boy: Provided further, That upon examination, under rules prescribed by the Coast Guard as to eyesight, hearing, and physical condition, such persons or graduates are found to be competent: Provided further, That upon examination, under rules prescribed by the Coast Guard as to eyesight, hearing, physical condition, and knowledge of the duties of seamanship, a person found competent may be rated as able seaman after having served on deck twelve months at sea or on the Great Lakes, but seamen examined and rated able seamen under this proviso shall not in any case compose more than one-fourth of the number of able seamen required by this section to be shipped or employed upon any vessel.

Certificate of service as able seaman

46 U.S.C. 672(b)

Application may be made to the Coast Guard for a certificate of service as able seaman, and upon proof being made to the Coast Guard by affidavit and examination, under rules approved by the Commandant of the Coast Guard, showing the nationality and age of the applicant, the vessel or vessels on which he has had service, that he is skilled in the work usually performed by able seamen, and that he is entitled to such certificate under the provisions of this section, the Coast Guard shall issue to said applicant a certificate of service as able seaman, which shall be retained by him and be accepted as prima-facie evidence of his rating as an able seaman. Exception to section 672; certain persons as able seamen 46 U.S.C. 672-2

Notwithstanding any provision of section 672 of this title, every person may be rated as an able seaman for the purpose of serving on vessels of not more than five hundred gross tons, on bays and sounds, when such vessels are not carrying passengers, who is nineteen years of age and upward and who has had at least twelve months of service on deck at sea or on the Great Lakes or on the bays and sounds connected directly with the sea.

Exception to section 672; seagoing barges

46 U.S.C. 672b-1

Notwithstanding any provision of section 672 of this title, every person may be rated as an able seaman for the purpose of serving on seagoing barges who is nineteen years of age and upward, and who has had at least twelve months of service on deck at sea or on the Great Lakes or on the bays and sounds connected directly with the seas.

763-778 0-65--13

Certification of Able Seamen Convention, 1946

The General Conference of the International Labor Organization, Having been convened at Seattle by the Governing Body of_the International Labor Office, and having met in its Twenty-eighth Session on 6 June 1946, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the certification of able seamen, which is included in the fifth item on the agenda of the Session, and

Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an International Convention,

adopts this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-six the following Convention, which may be cited as the Certification of Able Seamen Convention, 1946:

ARTICLE 1

No person shall be engaged on any vessel as an able seaman unless he is a person who by national laws or regulations is deemed to be competent to perform any duty which may be required of a member of the crew serving in the deck department (other than an officer or leading or specialist rating) and unless he holds a certificate of qualification as an able seaman granted in accordance with the provisions of the following articles.

ARTICLE 2

1. The competent authority shall make arrangements for the holding of examinations and for the granting of certificates of qualification.

2. No person shall be granted a certificate of qualification unless— (a) He has reached a minimum age to be prescribed by the competent authority;

(b) He has served at sea in the deck department for a minimum period to be prescribed by the competent authority; and

(c) He has passed an examination of proficiency to be prescribed by the competent authority.

3. The prescribed minimum age shall not be less than eighteen years. 4. The prescribed minimum period of service at sea shall not be less than thirty-six months: Provided that the competent authority may

(a) Permit persons with a period of actual service at sea of not less than twenty-four months who have successfully passed through a course of training in an approved training school to reckon the time spent in such training, or part thereof, as sea service; and

(b) Permit persons trained in approved seagoing training ships who have served eighteen months in such ships to be certificated as able seamen upon leaving in good standing.

5. The prescribed examination shall provide a practical test of the candidate's knowledge of seamanship and of his ability to carry out effectively all the duties that may be required of an able seaman, including those of a lifeboatman; it shall be such as to qualify a successful candidate to hold the special lifeboatman's certificate provided for in Article 22 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1929, or in the corresponding provision of any subsequent Con

vention (section 141 of this volume) revising or replacing that Convention for the time being in force for the territory concerned.

ARTICLE 3

A certificate of qualification may be granted to any person whọ, at the time of the entry into force of this Convention for the territory concerned, is performing the full duties of an able seaman or leading deck rating or has performed such duties.

ARTICLE 4

The competent authority may provide for the recognition of certificates of qualification issued in other territories.

ARTICLE 5

The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

ARTICLE 6

1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour Organization whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General.

2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been registered with the Director-General.

3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered.

ARTICLE 7

1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention comes into force, by an act communicated to the Director-General of the International Labor Office for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered.

2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.

ARTICLE 8

1. The Director-General of the International Labor Office shall notify all the Members of the International Labor Organization of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organization.

2. When notifying the Members of the Organization of the registration of the second ratification communicated to him, the DirectorGeneral shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organization to the date upon which the Convention will come into force.