Navigation (Watertight Doors and Scuttles) Regulations (Cth)

STATUTORY RULES.

1959. No. 59.

 

REGULATIONS UNDER THE NAVIGATION ACT 1912-1956.*

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Navigation Act 1912-1956.

Dated this twenty-sixth day of June, 1959.

W. J. Slim

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

Minister of State for Shipping and Transport

 

NAVIGATION (WATERTIGHT DOORS AND SCUTTLES) REGULATIONS.

Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Navigation (Watertight Doors and Scuttles) Regulations.

Interpretation.

2.—(1.) In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears—

“breadth”, “bulkhead deck”, “margin line” and “watertight” have the same respective meanings as in the Navigation (Construction of Passenger Ships) Regulations;

“seasonal tropical zone” and “tropical zone” have the same respective meanings as in the Load Line Rules;

“ship” means a ship that is a Class I. ship, a Class II. ship or a Class III. ship as defined in sub-regulation (1.) of regulation 3 of the Navigation (Construction of Passenger Ships) Regulations;

“the Load Line Rules” has the same meaning as in the Navigation (Load Lines) Regulations;

“watertight door” means a door required by the Navigation (Construction of Passenger Ships) Regulations to be watertight.

(2.) For the purposes of these Regulations, a ship shall be deemed to be at sea from the time when she proceeds to sea until she has been secured at a mooring or an anchorage at a port.

Certain contrivances to be kept dosed at sea.

3.—(1.) A contrivance to which this regulation applies shall be kept closed while the ship is at sea.

 

* Notified in the Commonwealth Gazette on 26 June, 1959.

3445/57.—Price 3d. 9/27.5.1959.

(2.) Subject to the next succeeding sub-regulation, this regulation applies to the following contrivances:—

(a)a hinged watertight door below the margin line in a ship, being a door fitted in a bulkhead—

(i) which is required by the Navigation (Construction of Passenger Ships) Regulations to be watertight; and

(ii) which, at the level at which the door is fitted, divides between-deck cargo spaces from one another;

(b)a side scuttle of an opening type which is fitted in a between decks and below the margin line in a ship, if the sill of any side scuttle in the between decks is below a line drawn parallel to the bulkhead deck at the side of the ship and having its lowest point four and one-half feet plus a distance equal to two and one-half per centum of the breadth of the ship above the water when the ship is first afloat in seawater after proceeding to sea;

(c) a side scuttle below the margin line in a ship, being a side scuttle which is not accessible while the ship is at sea, and the deadlight of such a side scuttle;

(d)a side scuttle below the margin line in a ship, being a side scuttle situated in a space appropriated to the carriage either of cargo or passengers, when the space in which the side scuttle is situated is used for the carriage of cargo, and the deadlight of such a side scuttle; and

(e) a gangway, cargo or coaling port below the margin line in a ship.

(3.) Paragraph (b)of the last preceding sub-regulation shall, in relation to a ship while in a tropical zone (including a seasonal tropical zone in an appropriate season) during fair weather, be deemed to have effect as if “three and one-half feet” were substituted for “four and one-half feet”.

(4.) For the purposes of this regulation—

(a)a contrivance shall be deemed to be below the margin line if the sill of the contrivance is below that line; and

(b) a side scuttle shall be deemed not to be closed unless it is locked.

Watertight doors to be closed.

4. A watertight door in a ship, not being a door which is a contrivance to which the last preceding regulation applies, shall be kept closed while the ship is at sea, except—

(a) when it is necessary for it to be open for the working of the ship; or

(b)when it is required to be opened and closed in pursuance of regulation 7 of these Regulations.

(2.) When a watertight door to which the last preceding sub-regulation applies is open for the working of the ship, it shall be kept free from obstructions that might prevent its rapid closure.

 

Portable plates to be kept in place.

5.—(1.) Where an opening in a portion of the internal structure of a ship, being a structure that is required by the Navigation (Construction of Passenger Ships) Regulations to be watertight—

(a) is situated wholly or partly below the margin line of the ship; and

(b) is intended to be closed by the setting in place of a portable plate,

a portable plate shall, except in the case of urgent necessity, be kept in place to close the opening while the ship is at sea.

(2.) For the purposes of this regulation, a portable plate shall not be deemed to be in place unless the joint between the plate and the structure of the ship is watertight.

Covers and valves of ash-shoots, etc., to be closed.

6. The cover and valve of an ash-shoot, rubbish-shoot or other similar contrivance in a ship having its inboard opening below the margin line of the ship shall, when the shoot or other contrivance is not in use, be kept securely closed.

Opening and closing of contrivances, etc., for testing purposes.

7.—(1.) Subject to the next succeeding sub-regulation, each watertight door or contrivance referred to in regulation 3, 4 or 6 of these Regulations in a ship shall be opened and closed for the purpose of testing its one ration—

(a) at intervals of not more than seven days; and

(b)immediately before the ship proceeds to sea, if the ship is intended to remain at sea for a period exceeding seven days.

(2.) The last preceding sub-regulation does not require the opening and closing, while a ship is at sea, of a contrivance which is required by regulation 3 of these Regulations to be kept closed.

(3.) Subject to the next succeeding sub-regulation, each watertight door in a ship fitted in a transverse bulkhead required by the Navigation (Construction of Passenger Ships) Regulations to be watertight, being a door which—

(a) is hinged or is operated by power; and

(b)is required to be open for the working of the ship at any time while the ship is at sea,

shall, once in every period of twenty-four hours while the ship is at sea, be opened and closed for the purpose of testing its operation.

(4.) The last preceding sub-regulation does not require—

(a)the opening and closing of a watertight door required by regulation 3 of these Regulations to be kept closed while the ship is at sea; or

(b)the opening and closing of a bunker door during a voyage before it has been opened for the working of the ship during that voyage.

Inspection of watertight doors, valves, etc.

8.—(1.) Each contrivance in a ship, being a contrivance to which this regulation applies, shall be inspected, at intervals not exceeding seven days, by a person appointed for that purpose by the master of the ship.

(2.) This regulation applies to the following contrivances:—

(a) a watertight door in a ship;

(b)a mechanism, indicator or warning device connected with a watertight door in a ship;

(c) a valve the closing of which is necessary to make watertight a compartment situated below the margin line in a ship; and

(d)a valve the operation of which is necessary for the efficient operation of damage-control cross-connexions in a ship.

Log-book entries.

9. Entries shall be made in tag official log-book of a ship recording—

(a)the times of the last closing, if any, before the ship proceeds to sea, and of the next subsequent opening, of the contrivances to which regulation 3 of these Regulations applies;

(b)the times of the opening and closing, while the ship is at sea, of the watertight doors fitted between bunkers in the between decks below the bulkhead deck;

(c) whether the portable plates referred to in regulation 5 of these Regulations are in place when the ship proceeds to sea and the times, if any, of the removal and replacement of those plates, or any of them, while the ship is at sea; and

(d)the occasions on which tests and inspections are made in compliance with these Regulations and whether the contrivances to which the tests and inspections relate were found to be in good working order.

Offences.

10. Where a requirement of these Regulations (not being a requirement that an entry be made in the official log-book of a ship) is not complied with in relation to a ship, the master of the ship is guilty of an offence punishable upon conviction by a fine not exceeding One hundred pounds.

 

By Authority: A. J. Arthur, Commonwealth Government Printer Canberra.