Onboard training, musters, and drills must be in accordance with subchapter W (Lifesaving Appliances and Arrangements) of this chapter.

Flashing the rays of a searchlight or other blinding light onto the bridge or into the pilothouse of any vessel under way is prohibited.

All licensed masters, officers, and certificated seamen on nautical school ships must strictly comply with routing instructions issued by competent naval authority.

Unnecessary sounding of a nautical school ship's whistle is prohibited within any harbor limits of the United States.

On all nautical school ships making voyages of more than 48 hours' duration, the entire steering gear, the whistle, the means of communication and the signaling appliances between the bridge or pilothouse and engine room shall be examined and tested by an officer of the nautical school ship within a period of not more than 12 hours before leaving port. All nautical school ships making voyages of less than 48 hours' duration shall be so examined and tested at least once in every week. The fact and time of such examination and test shall be recorded in the log book.

Except as provided in 33 CFR 164.15, when the automatic pilot is used in—

(a) Areas of high traffic density;

(b) Conditions of restricted visibility; and

(c) All other hazardous navigational situations, the master shall ensure that—

(1) It is possible to immediately establish human control of the ship's steering:

(2) A competent person is ready at all times to take over steering control; and

(3) The changeover from automatic to manual steering and vice versa is made by, or under, the supervision of the officer of the watch.

(a) The master of a vessel fitted with loading doors shall assure that all loading doors are closed watertight and secured during the entire voyage except that—

(1) If a door cannot be opened or closed while the vessel is at a dock, it may be open while the vessel approaches and draws away from the dock, but only as far as necessary to enable the door to be immediately operated.

(2) If needed to operate the vessel, or embark and disembark passengers when the vessel is at anchor in protected waters, loading doors may be open provided that the master determines that the safety of the vessel is not impaired.

(b) For the purposes of this section, “loading doors” include all weathertight ramps, bow visors, and openings used to load personnel, equipment, and stores, in the collision bulkhead, the side shell, and the boundaries of enclosed superstructures that are continuous with the shell of the vessel.

(c) The master shall enter into the log book the time and door location of every closing of the loading doors.

(d) The master shall enter into the log book any opening of the doors in accordance with paragraph (a)(2) of this section setting forth the time of the opening of the doors and the circumstances warranting this action.

The master of every nautical school ship over 50 gross tons shall, whenever leaving port, enter the maximum draft of his nautical school ship in the log book.

(a) After loading and prior to departure and at all other times necessary to assure the safety of the vessel, the master shall determine that the vessel complies with all applicable stability requirements in the vessel's trim and stability book, stability letter, Certificate of Inspection, and Load Line Certificate, as the case may be, and then enter an attestation statement of the verification in the log book. The vessel may not depart until it is in compliance with these requirements.

(b) When determining compliance with applicable stability requirements the vessel's draft, trim, and stability must be determined as necessary and any stability calculations made in support of the determination must be retained on board the vessel for the duration of the voyage.

(a) Officers are required to acquaint themselves with the latest information published by the Coast Guard and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency regarding aids to navigation, and neglect to do so is evidence of neglect of duty. It is desirable that nautical school ships navigating oceans and coastwise and Great Lakes waters shall have available in the pilothouse for convenient reference at all times a file of the applicable Notice to Mariners.

(b) Local Notices to Mariners, published by each U.S. Coast Guard District, contain announcements and information on changes in aids to navigation and other marine information affecting the safety of navigation on oceans and coastwise and the Great Lakes. These notices may be obtained free of charge from the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center Web site found at http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName = lnmMain.

(c) Weekly Notices to Mariners (Worldwide coverage) are prepared jointly by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Ocean Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard. They include changes in aids to navigation and other important navigation safety information in assembled form for U.S. waters. Foreign marine information is also included in these notices. These notices are available without charge from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Web site found at http://msi.nga.mil/NGAPortal/MSI.portal.

(d) As appropriate for the intended voyage, all nautical school ships must carry adequate and up-to-date—

(1) Charts;

(2) Sailing directions;

(3) Coast pilots;

(4) Light lists;

(5) Notices to mariners;

(6) Tide tables;

(7) Current tables; and

(8) All other nautical publications necessary. 1

On all vessels to which this subpart applies there must be readily available to the deck officer of the watch a placard containing instructions for the use of the life saving signals set forth in regulation 16, chapter V, of the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, 1974. These signals must be used by vessels or persons in distress when communicating with lifesaving stations and maritime rescue units.

It shall be the duty of an engineer when he assumes charge of the boilers and machinery of a nautical school ship to examine the same forthwith and thoroughly, and if he finds any part thereof in bad condition, he shall immediately report the facts to the master, owner, or agent, and to the Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection, of the district, who shall thereupon investigate the matter and take such actions as may be necessary.

The requirements for providing notice and reporting of marine casualties and for retaining voyage records are contained in part 4 of this chapter.

(a) Before making repairs to a boiler of a nautical school ship the engineer in charge shall report, in writing, the nature of such repairs to the nearest Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection, where such repairs are to be made.

(b) And it shall be the duty of all engineers when an accident occurs to the boilers or machinery in their charge tending to render the further use of such boilers or machinery unsafe until repairs are made, or when, by reason of ordinary wear, such boilers or machinery have become unsafe, to report the same to the Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection, immediately upon the arrival of the nautical school ship at the first port reached subsequent to the accident, or after the discovery of such unsafe condition by said engineer.