The waters of Puget's Sound, in Washington Territory, were not
within the Rules and Regulations adopted 17 October, 1857, of the
Supervising Inspectors, appointed under the Act of Congress of 30
August, 1552, to be observed by vessels in passing each other.
Congress, by Act of August 30, 1852,
* provided for
the
Page 68 U. S. 683
appointment of supervising inspectors of steamers and machinery,
one of the duties of such inspectors being to establish rules and
regulations to be observed by all vessels in
passing each
other, and to assign the limits of territory within which they
should be obligatory. The inspectors accordingly met, and in 1857
established nine districts, defined their limits, and adopted
certain rules to govern vessels in passing each other within them.
On libel and crosslibel in admiralty between a steamboat and steam
tug for collision, the chief question of law was whether the waters
of
Puget's Sound, in Washington Territory, were within the
limits of any one of the nine districts established by the
supervising inspectors.
MR. JUSTICE CLIFFORD delivered the opinion of the Court on the
point of law in the case to this effect:
The Territory of Washington was established on the second day of
March, 1853. By the terms of the act, it embraces all that portion
of Oregon Territory lying and being south of the fortyninth degree
of north latitude, and north of the middle of the main channel of
the Columbia River from its mouth to where the fortysixth degree of
north latitude crosses said river, thence with said fortysixth
degree of latitude to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Washington
Territory was not included in any one of the nine districts, as is
obvious from the language employed. The fourth district embraced
the coast of California and Oregon, and all waters flowing into the
Gulf of Mexico south and west of Cape Sable and north of the Rio
Grande, except those of the Mississippi above Napoleon, but no
mention was made of the Territory of Washington, and there was no
other district which embraced any portion of the Pacific coast. The
testimony of witnesses examined in the case is full to the point
that no such rules and regulations were known there, and that none
such had been furnished by the supervising inspectors, or any other
public authority. Two printed copies of such rules and regulations
are required by the act to be furnished to each of such vessels,
and the
Page 68 U. S. 684
direction is that they shall at all times be kept up in
conspicuous places on such vessels and be observed both night and
day. Congress did not make the rules or establish the districts,
but authorized both to be done by the supervising inspectors. The
rules and regulations adopted did not embrace the waters which the
steam tug was navigating, and consequently she was not in fault in
not having complied with those rules and regulations. The limits of
the fourth district were amended in March, 1861, so as to embrace
the Pacific coast, with all the waters flowing into the same,
within the original boundaries of the district. Doubts are
entertained, however, whether the limits, as amended, included the
Territory of Washington, but the regulations adopted in December
following provide that the first district shall embrace all the
waters and rivers of the Pacific, which remove all doubt upon the
subject.
Decrees accordingly.
* 10 Stat. at Large 70, § 18.
