VESSEL SAFETY

Photo: U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary's courtesy vessel safety checks and the U.S. Coast Guard's sweeping maritime safety duties trace their origins to a series of accidents in the 1800s involving a then revolutionary technology - steam power.

In the wake of series of deadly boiler fires and explosions, Congress passed the Steam Boat Inspection Act of 1838 to "provide better security of the lives of passengers on board vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam."

Modifications to that early congressional action - and mounting safety issues - led to the creation of the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service in 1871. That agency's successor was fully integrated into the Coast Guard in 1946.

Today's auxiliary's Vessel Safety Check effort was established in 1947 to augment the Coast Guard's expanded safety duties. A safety check is voluntary and free of charge for recreational boaters and ensures a boat is in compliance with federal and state boating laws. Annual decals are awarded for boats meeting requirements. 

In addition to safety checks, the auxiliary's "V-Directorate" coordinates the Program Visitors initiative, a corps of "safety ambassadors." 

The auxiliary offers safe boating training, too, through its Public Education Directorate, the "E-Directorate." Courses range from boating fundamentals to advanced topics. Virtual and in classroom settings. 

Additionally, the auxiliary's "P-Directorate" promotes maritime safety.

On a much, much larger scale, today's active duty and reserve U.S. Coast Guard personnel inspect U.S.-flagged commercial vessels and ensure compliance with domestic regulations and international standards - including ship materiel condition and construction.

The Coast Guard also sets standards for maritime safety equipment.

History teaches that progress often comes at a cost.

Between 1830 and 1840, 1,733 people died in steamboat explosions, fires and accidents, according to a Dec. 21, 1840 report to the 26th U.S. Congress, second session, the deadliest of which was the loss of 150 people aboard the steamer Lexington, off Long island, on Jan. 13, 1840.

On Oct. 23, 1844, the three boilers propelling the steamboat Lucy Walker exploded on the Ohio River near New Albany, Indiana, with an estimated death toll of 100 or more. 

The worst was yet to come.

On April 27, 1865, three of four boilers on the side-wheeled steamboat Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, claiming 1,167 lives - the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. Designed for 376 passengers, Sultana was carrying 2,128 souls, most of whom were Union soldier released by the Confederates at the end of the Civil War. The likely cause of the disaster was faulty boiler repair.

This huge tragedy - and others on a smaller but still deadly scale - illustrated the shortcomings of early laws and safety efforts. 

On the engineering side, the physics and mechanics of boilers were not well understood in the early and mid-1800s, and designers did not know the tensile, compressive, or shear strengths of metals. On the political side, Congress was hesitant to enact laws infringing on state's rights and commerce.

The 1871 law creating the Steamboat Inspection Service established a Supervisory Inspector General, extended licensing requirements for masters and chief mates, provided for revocation of licenses, authorized periodic inspection, and granted officials the authority to prescribe nautical rules of the road.