PART XXXVII.-AIDS TO NAVIGATION. 375. Assistance by United States vessels. 375. Assistance by United States vessels. 379. Charts and manuals. The revenue-cutters on the northern and northwestern R. S., 2759. lakes, when put in commission, shall be specially charged with aiding vessels in distress on the lakes. The President may, when the necessities of the service R. S., 1536. permit it, cause any suitable number of public vessels adapted to the purpose to cruise upon the coast in the season of severe weather and to afford such aid to distressed navigators as their circumstances may require; and such public vessels shall go to sea fully prepared to render such assistance. 376. Removal of derelicts. The President of the United States is hereby authorized Oct. 31, 1893. to make with the several governments interested in the navigation of the North Atlantic Ocean an international agreement providing for the reporting, marking, and removal of dangerous wrecks, derelicts, and other menaces to navigation in the North Atlantic Ocean outside the coast waters of the respective countries bordering thereon. 377. Lights and buoys. The Light-House Board may, when they deem it neces- R. S., 4676. sary, place a light-vessel, or other suitable warning of danger, on or over any wreck or temporary obstruction to the entrance of any harbor, or in the channel or fairway of any bay or sound. The Light-House Board shall properly mark all pier- R. S., 4677. heads belonging to the United States situated on the northern and northwestern lakes, whenever the board is duly notified by the department charged with the construction or repair of pier-heads that the construction or repair of any such pier-heads has been completed. All buoys along the coast, or in bays, harbors, sounds, R. S., 4678. or channels, shall be colored and numbered, so that pass ing up the coast or sound, or entering the bay, harbor, or 14317-03-24 369 May 13, 1902. R. S., 431. May 4, 1898. R. S., 432. R. S., 4691. Mar. 3, 1879. channel, red buoys with even numbers shall be passed on the starboard hand, black buoys with uneven numbers on the port hand, and buoys with red and black stripes on either hand. Buoys in channel-ways shall be colored with alternate white and black perpendicular stripes. 378. Nautical Almanac. Hereafter the "usual number" of copies of the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac shall not be printed. In lieu thereof there shall be printed and bound one thousand one hundred copies of the same, uniform with the editions printed for the Navy Department, as provided in section seventy-three, paragraph five, of an Act approved January twelfth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, providing for the public printing, binding, and distribution of public documents; one hundred copies for the Senate, four hundred for the House, and six hundred for the Superintendent of Documents for distribution to State and Territorial libraries and designated depositories. 379. Charts and manuals. There shall be a Hydrographic office attached to the Bureau of Equipment in the Navy Department, for the improvement of the means for navigating safely the vessels of the Navy and of the mercantile marine, by providing, under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy, accurate and cheap nautical charts, sailing directions, navigators, and manuals of instructions for the use of all vessels of the United States, and for the benefit and use of navigators generally. The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to cause to be prepared, at the Hydrographic Office attached to the Bureau of Navigation in the Navy Department, maps, charts, and nautical books relating to and required in navigation, and to publish and furnish them to navigators at the cost of printing and paper, and to purchase the plates and copyrights of such existing maps, charts, navigators, sailing directions and instructions, as he may consider necessary, and when he may consider it expedient to do so, and under such regulations and instructions as he may prescribe. The charts published by the Coast Survey shall be sold at the office at Washington at the price of the printing and paper thereof, and elsewhere at the same price with the average cost of delivery added thereto; and hereafter there shall be no free distribution of such charts except to the departments of the United States and to the several States and officers of the United States requiring them for public use. Senators, Representatives and Delegates to the House of Representatives shall each be entitled to not more than ten charts published by the Coast Survey for each regular session of Congress. 380. Storm and weather signals. Sec. 3. The Chief of the Weather Bureau, under the direction Oct. 1, 1890. of the Secretary of Agriculture, on and after July first, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, shall have charge of the forecasting of weather, the issue of storm warnings, the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce, and navigation, the gauging and reporting of rivers, the maintenance and operation of seacoast telegraph lines and the collection and transmission of marine intelligence for the benefit of commerce and navigation, the reporting of temperature and rain-fall conditions for the cotton interests, the display of frost and coldwave signals, the distribution of meteorological information in the interests of agriculture and commerce, and the taking of such meteorological observations as may be necessary to establish and record the climatic conditions of the United States, or as are essential for the proper execution of the foregoing duties. 381. Meridians. The meridian of the Observatory at Washington shall be R. S., 435. adopted and used as the American meridian for all astronomical purposes, and the meridian of Greenwich shall be adopted for all nautical purposes. PART XXXVIII.-OBSTRUCTIONS TO NAVIGATION. 382. Improvements by private or mu nicipal corporations. 383. Bridges, dams, dikes. 384. General obstructions. 385. Harbor lines. 386. Penalties. 387. Dumping into navigable waters. June 13, 1902. Mar. 3, 1899. 390. Log regulations. 392. Bridge spans. 393. Bridge piers and abutments. 395. Sunken wrecks. 396. Speed of vessels-navigation of canals. 397. Potomac River. 382. Improvements by private or municipal corporations. Any person or persons, corporations, municipal or private, who desire to improve any navigable river, or any part thereof, at their or its own expense and risk may do so upon the approval of the plans and specifications of said proposed improvement by the Secretary of War and Chief of Engineers of the Army. The plan of said improvement must conform with the general plan of the Government improvements, must not impede navigation, and no toll shall be imposed on account thereof, and said improvement shall at all times be under the control and supervision of the Secretary of War and Chief of Engi neers. 383. Bridges, dams, dikes. It shall not be lawful to construct or commence the construction of any bridge, dam, dike, or causeway over or in any port, roadstead, haven, harbor, canal, navigable river, or other navigable water of the United States until the consent of Congress to the building of such structures shall have been obtained and until the plans for the same shall have been submitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers and by the Secretary of War: Provided, That such structures may be built under authority of the legis lature of a State across rivers and other waterways the navigable portions of which lie wholly within the limits of a single State, provided the location and plans thereof are submitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers and by the Secretary of War before construction is commenced: And provided further, That when plans for any bridge or other structure have been approved by the Chief of Engi neers and by the Secretary of War, it shall not be lawful to deviate from such plans either before or after completion of the structure unless the modification of said plans has previously been submitted to and received the approval of the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary of War. 384. General obstructions. Sec. 10. The creation of any obstruction not affirmatively author- Mar. 3, 1899. ized by Congress, to the navigable capacity of any of the waters of the United States is hereby prohibited; and it shall not be lawful to build or commence the building of any wharf, pier, dolphin, boom, weir, breakwater, bulkhead, jetty, or other structures in any port, roadstead, haven, harbor, canal, navigable river, or other water of the United States, outside established harbor lines, or where no harbor lines have been established, except on plans recommended by the Chief of Engineers and authorized by the Secretary of War; and it shall not be lawful to excavate or fill, or in any manner to alter or modify the course, location, condition, or capacity of, any port, roadstead, haven, harbor, canal, lake, harbor of refuge, or inclosure within the limits of any breakwater, or of the channel of any navigable water of the United States, unless the work has been recommended by the Chief of Engineers and authorized by the Secretary of War prior to beginning the same. 385. Harbor lines. Sec. 11. Where it is made manifest to the Secretary of War that Mar. 3, 1899. the establishment of harbor lines is essential to the preservation and protection of harbors he may, and is hereby, authorized to cause such lines to be established, beyond which no piers, wharves, bulkheads, or other works shall be extended or deposits made, except under such regulations as may be prescribed from time to time by him: Provided, That whenever the Secretary of War grants to any person or persons permission to extend piers, wharves, bulkheads, or other works, or to make deposits in any tidal harbor or river of the United States beyond any harbor lines established under authority of the United States, he shall cause to be ascertained the amount of tide water displaced by any such structure or by any such deposits, and he shall, if he deem it necessary, require the parties to whom the permission is given to make compensation for such displacement either by excavating in some part of the harbor, including tide-water channels between high and . low water mark, to such an extent as to create a basin for as much tide water as may be displaced by such structure or by such deposits, or in any other mode that may be satisfactory to him. Provided, That all such dredging or other improvement shall be carried on under the direction of the Secretary of War, and shall in no wise injure any existing channels. |