NUMBERING AND RECORDING UNDOCUMENTED VESSELS DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT CIROULAR No. 278 BUREAU OF NAVIGATION June 17, 1918. TO COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS AND OTHERS CONCERNED: Your attention is invited to the following act: "To require numbering and recording of undocumented vessels," approved June 7, 1918: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every undocumented vessel, operated in whole or in part by machinery, owned in the United States and found on the navigable waters thereof, except public vessels, and vessels not exceeding sixteen feet in length measured from end to end over the deck excluding sheer, temporarily equipped with detachable motors, shall be numbered. Such num- bers shall be not less in size than three inches and painted or attached to each bow of the vessel in such manner and color as to be distinctly visible and legible. SEC. 2. That the said numbers, on application of the owner or master, shall be awarded by the collector of customs of the district in which the vessel is owned and a record thereof kept in the customhouse of the district in which the owner or managing owner resides. No numbers not 80 awarded shall be carried on the bows of such vessel. SEC. 3. That notice of destruction or abandonment of such vessels or change in their ownership shall be furnished within ten days by the owners to the collectors of customs of the districts where such numbers were awarded. Such vessel sold into another customs district may be numbered anew in the latter district. SEC. 4. That the penalty for violation of any provisions of this Act shall be $10, for which the vessel shall be liable and may be seized and proceeded against in the district court of the United States in any district in which such vessel may be found. Such penalty on application may be mitigated or remitted by the Secretary of Commerce. SEC. 5. That the Secretary of Commerce shall make such regulations as may be necessary to secure proper execution of this Act by collectors of customs and other officers of the Government SEC. 6. That this Act shall take effect six months after its passage. REGULATIONS. 1. Application for numbers will be made by the owner or master to the collector of customs of the district in which the owner resides. The owner will then receive full instructions as to the number awarded, how it is to be placed on the vessel. etc. 2. In the case of power tenders for a boat which is itself numbered under this act, the tenders will take the same number as the parent boat. Tenders of documented boats will take a separate number for each power tender. 3. This law does not amend section 14 of the act of March 4, 1915, requiring the marking of lifeboats. Respectfully, WILLIAM C. REDFIELD, Secretary. 60043*-18 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1918 334