Page 18 - Collision Avoidance Rules Guide

Road at Sea which included a number of verses as aids to memory. The
verses became popular and were translated into other languages.
They are still quoted in some text books.
Some changes to the 1863 Rules were brought into force in 1880,
including a new rule permitting whistle signals to be given to indicate
action taken by steam ships to avoid collision. In 1884 a new set of
regulations came into force but these did not differ substantially from
the previous ones. An article specifying signals to be used by vessels
in distress was added bringing the total number of articles to 27.
The first International Maritime Conference to consider regula-
tions for preventing collision at sea was held in Washington in 1889.
It was convened on the initiation of the Government of the United
States of America. Among the new provisions agreed at the
Conference were requirements that a stand-on vessel should keep her
speed as well as her course, that a giving-way vessel should avoid
crossing ahead of the other vessel, and that steamships should be
permitted to carry a second white masthead light.
The regulations agreed at the Washington Conference were
brought into force by several countries, including Britain and the
United States, in 1897. At a Mer Maritime Conference held in
Brussels in 1910 international agreement was reached on a set of regu-
lations which differed in only minor respects from those drafted at
the Washington Conference. The 19 10 Regulations remained in force
until 1954.
In 1929 an International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea pro-
posed some minor changes to the Rules but these were never ratified.
However, a recommendation that helm and steering orders should be
given in the direct sense, so that ‘right rudder’ or ‘starboard’ meant ‘put
the vessel’s rudder to starboard’, was accepted and came into force in
1933. The situation with respect to helm orders had previously been
confused due to the difference between the movement of the wheel
and tiller.
The Regulations were revised at an International Conference
on Safety of Life at Sea in 1948. No drastic changes were made.
The second masthead light was made compulsory for power-driven
vessels of 150 feet or upwards in length, a fixed stern light was made
compulsory for almost all vessels under way, and the wake-up signal
of at least five short and rapid blasts was introduced as an optional
signal for use by a stand-on vessel. The revised Rules came into force
in 1954.

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