PILOTS AND PILOTAGE Pilots for Mobile cruise off the entrance to the Main Ship Channel, 5 miles to the southward of Fort Morgan. Pilots for Galveston and Houston cruise off Galveston entrance. Pilots for Southwest Pass and South Pass into the Mississippi River maintain lookouts at the mouth of the passes and can generally be found outside Southwest Pass. Pilots for Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange, and Lake Charles maintain a lookout station on the south jetty of Sabine Pass and frequently cruise off the entrance. At Key West, South Boca Grande, Tampa, Pensacola, and Aransas Pass, pilots maintain lookout stations and meet ships on signal or by previous arrangement. At Panama City, Pascagoula, and Freeport, vessels are met by previous arrangement. Pilotage is compulsory for certain vessels entering from sea but is not compulsory for the interior waters except the Mississippi River as far as New Orleans. Pilotage is compulsory for vessels in foreign trade and generally for United States coastwise vessels if without a pilot licensed by the Federal Government. Fuller information regarding pilotage at the various ports to and from sea is given under the respective port headings. Pilots for the inside routes may be found at the larger cities and towns; in general, the charge for piloting in interior waters is by special agreement with the pilot. Pilotage rates for the States of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana are given under the headings of the various ports of those States. The following are extracts from the State statutes of Florida and Texas relating to pilotage: Florida: The board of pilot commissioners of each port may fix the rates of pilotage which shall be paid by any vessel entering their port; but in no case shall they fix the rates greater than the rates now provided by law, as follows: All steamers or vessels entering any port or leaving the same shall be subject to pay to any licensed pilot performing duty on board, or to the pilot who shall first speak to such steamer or vessel, the following rates of pilotage: For steamers or vessels drawing 6 feet, or less than the same, $2 per foot; for steamers or vessels drawing from 6 to 10 feet, $3 per foot; for steamers or vessels drawing from 10 to 14 feet, $4 per foot; for steamers or vessels drawing from 14 to 20 feet, $5 per foot; for steamers or vessels drawing over 20 feet, $6 per foot. These rates shall apply to all steamers or vessels, whether owned wholly by citizens of this State or not: Provided, That all steamers or vessels carrying the regular United States mails shall pay half pilotage only: Provided further, That all steamers or vessels drawing less than 6 feet of water, and having a coastwise license, shall be exempt from paying whole or half pilotage, unless they employ a pilot. Texas: The rate of pilotage on any class of vessels shall not in any port of this State exceed $4 for each foot of water which the vessel at the time of piloting draws, and whenever a vessel, except of classes below excepted, shall decline the service of a pilot offered outside the bar, and shall enter the port without the aid of one, she shall be liable to the first pilot whose services she so declined for the payment of half pilotage; and any vessel which after being brought in by a pilot shall go out without employing one shall be liable to the payment of half pilotage to the pilot who brought her in, or if she has come in without the aid of a pilot, though offered outside, she shall in so going out be liable for the payment of half pilotage to the pilot who has first offered his services before she came in; but if she has come in without the aid of a pilot, or the offer of it outside, she shall in case of going out without a pilot not be liable to half pilotage. At any port where vessels shall receive or discharge their cargoes at an anchorage outside the bar, such vessel shall be liable for pilotage at the above rate to such anchorage, but shall not be liable for or compelled to pay pilotage from such anchorage to the open sea; and if any vessel bound from the open sea to such anchorage while under way shall (1) QUARANTINE AND MARINE HOSPITALS 9 decline the services of a pilot, and shall afterward receive or discharge any portion of her cargo at such anchorage on the lighters or otherwise, she shall be liable for the payment of half pilotage at the above rates to such anchorage to the first pilot whose services shall have been tendered to and declined by her, but not liable for any pilotage from such anchorage to the open sea; and when a pilot takes charge of a vessel 20 miles outside of the bar and brings her to it, he shall be entitled to one-fourth pilotage for such offshore service, in addition to what he is entitled to recover for bringing her in; but if such offshore service be declined, no portion of such compensation shall be recovered. The following classes of vessels shall be free from any charge for pilotage, unless for actual service, to wit: All vessels of 20 tons and under; all vessels of whatsoever burthen, owned in the State of Texas and registered and licensed in the district of Texas, when arriving from or departing to any port in the State of Texas; all vessels of 75 tons and under, owned and licensed for the coasting trade in any part of the United States, when arriving from or departing to any port in the State of Texas; all vessels of 75 tons and under, owned in the State of Texas and licensed for the coasting trade in the district of Texas, when arriving from or departing to any port in the United States. Harbor Masters are appointed for the principal ports and they have charge of the anchorage and berthing of vessels in their respective harbors. Harbor and anchorage regulations for certain ports are given under the respective port headings. The Port Series of publications (see page 4) give full information regarding port regulations. Federal laws prohibit the dumping of refuse material of any kind and of oil into the navigable waters of the United States. Towboats are stationed at Tampa, Pensacola, Mobile, New Orleans, Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange, Galveston, Houston, and Corpus Christi. Salvage Equipment, consisting of tugs, lighters, pumps, derricks, diving apparatus, etc., is available at Key West, Tampa, Pensacola, New Orleans, Port Arthur, and Galveston. The more extensive equipment is available at Key West, Mobile, New Orleans, and Galveston. Rules of the Road.-International Rules and Inland Rules to prevent collision of vessels are given in the appendix of this volume. They may be obtained in a printed pamphlet form from Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection or from the Superintendent of Documents. Pilot Rules for certain inland waters of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico are published in pamphlet form by the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection. Pilot Rules for the rivers whose waters flow into the Gulf of Mexico and their tributaries (Pilot Rules for Western Rivers) are similarly published in pamphlet form. Most of these pilot rules are given in the appendix of this volume. Copies of the pamphlets may be obtained from the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection or from the Superintendent of Documents. QUARANTINE AND MARINE HOSPITALS Quarantine for all ports within the limits of this volume is enforced in accordance with the requirements of the United States Public Health Service. At ports in the State of Texas some local requirements also have to be complied with. Quarantine information can be secured at the stations of the service and at American consulates, and will be furnished to vessels upon application, either by local officers of the service or by the United States Public Health Service at Washington, D. C. Port sanitary statements are issued by the United States Public Health Service and may be obtained at the stations of the service or from collectors of customs in all ports of the United States. On account of the menace, every summer, of yellow fever to the ports on the southern coast of the United States because of the prevalence of this disease in Mexico, Central America, and South America, during the season April 1 to November 1, special restrictions are enforced. Since no authenticated cases of yellow fever have been reported recently from any of the Latin American countries, the special measures against the introduction of yellow fever during the close quarantine season have been modified. However, special vigilance is exercised because of the possibility that there may be latent foci of this disease which may become manifest at any time, making it necessary to enforce close quarantine. The Public Health Service provides special arrangements for facilitating commerce, especially as this applies to the transportation of fruit between Mexican ports and Gulf ports. Information regarding such special measures can be secured from consuls at the various ports; the object is to assist steamship companies in complying with any quarantine measures in the port of departure which will tend to aid the quick dispatch of vessels upon their arrival_at southern United States ports. On this account it is recommended that the masters of vessels, upon arrival at any of the Mexican Gulf ports, communicate at once with the American consul in order to ascertain whether any special precautions are required. The following are the national quarantine stations within the limits covered by this volume: Key West, Fla. Boca Grande, Fla. Tampa, Fla.1 Cedar Keys, Fla. Carrabelle, Fla. Port St. Joe, Fla. Panama City, Fla. Gulfport, Miss.1 New Orleans, La.1 Freeport, Tex. Port Aransas, Tex. Corpus Christi, Tex. Brownsville, Tex. Medical Relief.-American merchant seamen are entitled to free medical relief at the expense of the Government, through the United States Public Health Service at its established relief stations. A list of such stations in the region covered by this volume is given below. An American merchant seaman is one "engaged on board in the care, preservation, or navigation of any registered, enrolled, or licensed vessel of the United States, or in the service, on board, of those engaged in such care, preservation, or navigation." Free medical advice is also furnished seamen by radio; for information regarding the same, see Radio Service, page 34. 1 Full fumigation facilities at these ports. Sulphur fumigation only at the remaining ports. (1) U. S. LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE 11 Relief stations of the Public Health Service are located at the addresses given, in the following ports: MARINE HOSPITALS Key West, Fla., Front and Emma Streets. Out-Patient Office, Customhouse. Galveston, Tex., 43rd Street and Avenue N. SECOND-CLASS RELIEF STATIONS Port Arthur, Tex., Federal Building. Tampa, Fla., 416 Citrus Exchange Building. Panama City, Fla. Pensacola, Fla., 509 Thiesen Building. Gulfport, Miss., 21 Durham Building. Houston, Tex., 416-417 Medical Arts Building. Corpus Christi, Tex., 408 Nixon Building, 601 Leopard Street. AIDS TO NAVIGATION, UNITED STATES LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE The lighthouses and one lightship, radiobeacons, radio directionfinder stations, and other aids to navigation are the principal guides and mark the approaches and channels to the principal ports. The buoyage is in accordance with the system adopted by the United States and is described below. The principal coast lights and Heald Bank Lightship are described in the text of this volume. Some of the light stations are equipped with radiobeacons and three with distance-finding apparatus. A list of the radiobeacons operated by the United States Lighthouse Service and the radio direction-finder stations operated by the United States Navy in the area covered by this volume are given under the heading, Radio Service. Descriptions of all aids to navigation will be found in the publications of the United States Lighthouse Service listed in the appendix under Publications. Private aids to navigation, such as stakes and small floats, are not supervised by the Government, and are therefore not listed or indicated on the charts. When private aids are established similar to those maintained by the Government, they must be authorized by United States Lighthouse Service. System of buoyage, colors, shapes, and numbers.-On the right or starboard side of the channel for the entering vessels are placed conical or nun buoys, painted red, and with even numbers, and on the left or port side, cylindrical or can buoys, painted black, and with odd numbers; the numbers for each side increase from seaward. Obstructions, with channel ways on either side, are marked with buoys painted with red and black horizontal bands, which may be left on either side, with due caution as to the position of the buoy with relation to the obstruction, as shown on the chart. In general, obstruction buoys have no distinctive shape, but in the case of buoys with horizontal bands marking obstructions or bifurcations of channels, when it is desired to indicate the main channel, a can buoy with black band at the top is used when the important channel is to the right for the entering vessel, and a nun buoy with red band at the top when the important channel is to the left." 57738°-36 Fairways are indicated, where necessary, by buoys painted with black and white vertical stripes; such buoys are placed in good water in mid-channel or approaches, and may be passed close-to on either side. Mid-channel buoys have no distinctive shape at present. Offshore Buoys along the Atlantic Coast are colored and numbered from north to south, and along the Pacific coast from south to north, conforming to the order of Light Lists; this does not apply to outside buoys which have a definite approach signification, and which are colored and numbered to conform to the approach. In channels not having a definite approach character, buoys are colored and numbered from north to south or from east to west on the Atlantic coast and from south to north or west to east on the Pacific coast. For special markings along the Intracoastal Waterway, see page 13. Bell buoys have a flat-topped float with skeleton superstructure supporting a bell. Gong buoys have a flat top with skeleton framework supporting a series of four gongs of varied tone. Whistle buoys are conical, with whistle at top. Spar buoys are long slender buoys of wood or iron. These classes of buoys, as well as lighted buoys, have not at present a shape distinction to indicate the side of channel or entrance, although a shape distinction is being introduced for wood spar buoys. Anchorage Buoys are painted white. Quarantine Anchorage Buoys are painted yellow. Certain Other Special Buoys are in use locally, such as white with green top for dredging buoys, and black and white horizontally banded for fish-net areas in the fifth district. Station Buoys, colored the same as the regular aids, are placed alongside of lightships and important buoy stations to mark them in case the regular aid is carried away. Lightship station buoys bear the letters "LS" above the initials of the station. Colors of Lights for Buoys and Beacons.-Red or white lights are placed on the right or starboard side of a channel for the entering vessel, and white or green lights on the left or port side. White lights may be on either or both sides of the channel, but colored lights are only on the sides indicated respectively. The same rules apply to lights on fixed structures serving a purpose similar to that of buoys. Coast lights and lightships near channels or entrances may not conform to this system. Lighted buoys are not at present uniformly differentiated as to shape, with respect to the side of the channel; they have bodies which contain the gas tanks or gas, and are usually surmounted by skeleton superstructures with lanterns; combination buoys have both light and bell, or light and whistle. Caution Regarding Buoys.-Buoys are liable to be carried away, shifted, capsized, sunk, etc., lighted buoys may be extinguished, or whistling or bell buoys may not sound, as the result of storm, the accumulation of ice, running ice, or other natural causes, or collision, or other accidents. Buoys marking channels subject to frequent changes are moved as may be necessary and should be used only with local knowledge. Such buoys may not be charted. Day Beacons are constructed and distinguished with special reference to each locality, and particularly with regard to the background upon which they are projected. Beacons on the sides of channels. |