# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 5/27th Congress/3rd Session/Chapter 94

Chap. XCIV.—An Act to modify the act entitled “An act to provide for the better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam,” approved July seventh, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight.
Act of July 7, 1838, ch. 191. 1852, ch. 106. Vessels propelled by steam to be provided with additional steering apparatus.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every boat or vessel which existing laws require to be registered, and which is propelled in whole or in part by steam, shall be provided with such additional apparatus or means as, in the opinion of the inspector of steamboats, shall be requisite to steer the boat or vessel, to be located in such part of the boat or vessel as the inspector may deem best to enable the officers and crew to steer and control the boat or vessel, in case the pilot or man at the wheel is driven from the same by fire; and no boat or vessel, exclusively propelled by steam, shall be registered, after the passage of this act, unless the owner, master, or other proper person, shall file with the collector or other proper officer the certificate of the inspector, stating that suitable means have been provided to steer the boat or vessel, in case the pilot or man at the wheel is driven therefrom by fire.
Vessels provided with the apparatus required by the first section, may use hemp tiller ropes, &c.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful in all vessels or boats propelled in whole or in part by steam, and which shall be provided with additional apparatus or means to steer the same, as required by the first section of this act, to use wheel or tiller roped, composed of hemp or other good and sufficient material, around the barrel or axle of the wheel, and to a distance not exceeding twenty-two feet therefrom, and also in connecting the tiller or rudder yoke with iron rods or chains used for working the rudder:Proviso. Provided, That no more rope for this purpose shall be used than is sufficient to extend from the connecting points of the tiller or rudder yoke placed in any working position beyond the nearest blocks or rollers, and give sufficient play to work the ropes on such blocks or rollers:Further proviso. And provided, further, That there shall be chains extending the whole distance of the ropes, so connected with the tiller or rudder yoke, and attached or fastened to the tiller or rudder yoke, and the iron chains or rods extending towards the wheel, in such manner as will take immediate effect, and work the rudder in case the ropes are burnt or otherwise rendered useless.
Freight vessels propelled by sails and Erickson’s propeller, not required to provide suction hose, &c.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the master and owner, and all others interested in vessels navigating Lakes Champlain, Ontario, Erie, Huron, Superior, and Michigan, or any of them, and which are ​propelled by sails and Erickson’s propeller, and used exclusively in carrying freight, shall from and after the passage of this act be exempt from liability or fine for failing to provide, as a part of the necessary furniture of such vessel, a suction hose and fire engine and hose suitable to be worked on such vessel in case of fire, or more than one long boat or yawl.
Proceedings pending for violations of 9th sec. act 7th July 1838, ch. 191, discontinued. Proviso.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the court before which any suit, information or indictment is or shall be pending for the violation, before the passage of this act, of so much of the ninth section of the act aforesaid as required “that iron rods or chains shall be employed and used in the navigation of all steamboats, instead of wheel and tiller ropes,” to order such suit, information or indictment to be discontinued on such terms as to costs as the court shall judge to be just and reasonable: Provided, That the defendant or defendants in such prosecution shall cause it to appear, by affidavit or otherwise, to the satisfaction of the court, that he or they had failed to use iron rods or chains in the navigation of his or their boat or boats, from a well-grounded apprehension that such rods or chains could not be employed for the purpose aforesaid with safety.
Experimental trials of inventions to prevent the explosion of steam boilers, &c. authorized. Ante, p. 584.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That in execution of the authority vested in him by the second section of the joint resolution “authorizing experiments to be made for the purpose of testing Samuel Colt’s submarine battery and for other purposes,” approved August thirty-first one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, the Secretary of the Navy shall appoint a board of examiners, consisting of three persons, of thorough knowledge as to the structure and use of the steam-engine, whose duty it shall be to make experimental trials of such inventions and plans designed to prevent the explosion of steam boilers and collapsing of flues as they may deem worthy of examination, and report the result of their experiments, with an expression of their opinion as to the relative merits and efficacy of such inventions and plans, which report the Secretary shall cause to be laid before Congress, at its next session. It shall also be the duty of said examiners to examine and report the relative strength of copper and iron boilers of equal thickness, and what amount of steam to the square inch each, when sound, is capable of working with safety; and whether hydrostatic pressure, or what other plan is best for testing the strength of boilers under the inspection laws; and what limitations as to the force or pressure of steam to the square inch, in proportion to the ascertained capacity of a boiler to resist, it would be proper to establish by law for the more certain prevention of explosions.
Part of act of 7th July 1838, repealed.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act aforesaid as is inconsistent with the provisions of this act shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
Approved, March 3, 1843.