COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE

WARREN G. MAGNUSON, Washington, Chairman

EDWARD JARRETT, Chief Clerk

BERTRAM O. WISSMAN, Assistant Chief Clerk
HAROLD I. BAYNTON, Chief Counsel
JAMES E. BAILEY, Assistant Chief Counsel
HENRY G. WOOD, Counsel

FOREWORD

Since the publication of Document No. 55 [3d Rev.] in 1951 (revising the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, to January 12, 1951) there have been numerous amendments to that act.

This compilation contains the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as amended through the 84th Congress, and may be used in conjunction with Document No. 55 [3d Rev.]. The public laws making the amendments since 1951 are included in appendix I.

It should be noted that the United States Maritime Commission, created by section 201 of the 1936 act, was abolished by Reorganization Plan No. 21 of 1950, effective May 24, 1950. All the functions of the Commission and its Chairman were transferred by such plan to the Secretary of Commerce, except those specifically placed under the jurisdiction of the Federal Maritime Board in the Department of Commerce. However, some of the amendatory acts from the 82d through the 84th Congress refer to the Commission rather than the Secretary of Commerce. For this reason, the texts of the amendatory acts have been included as they appear in the statutes, and no attempt has been made to indicate whether a former function of the Commission or its Chairman is now exercised by the Secretary of Commerce, by the Federal Maritime Board, or by the Maritime Administrator under a delegation of authority by the Secretary pursuant to section 204 of such Plan No. 21 of 1950. In this connection, see subsection (e) of section 905 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, which was added by section 21 of the act of July 17, 1952 (66 Stat. 765) and which appears on page 76, infra.

Certain amendments have also been made since 1951 to the Ship Mortgage Act, 1920 (sec. 30 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920), and to the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946. The texts of these two acts as amended through the 84th Congress are also included in this compilation, and the public laws making the amendments are included in appendix I.

Also included in this compilation are the texts of the Shipping Act, 1916 and the Merchant Marine Act, 1928 as they were set out in 1951 in Document No. 55 [3d Rev.].

The footnotes in Document No. 55 [3d Rev.] which relate to the earlier texts of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, the Ship Mortgage Act, 1920, the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946, the Shipping Act, 1916, and the Merchant Marine Act, 1928, and which showed the successive amendments to such basic acts, have been omitted.

Appendix II contains certain other acts which were included in the appendix to Document No. 55 [3d Rev.], but the footnotes in such appendix which relate to the earlier texts of those acts have been omitted. Also included in appendix II are the Emergency Foreign Vessels Acquisition Act, Public Law 569, 83d Congress (68 Stat. 675) and the Merchant Marine Medals Act, Public Law 759, 84th Congress (70 Stat. 605).