CHAPTER 449.
OF PILOTAGE.
Pilots and pilotage of and in the Bay and River Delaware.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, of the State of Delaware, in General Assembly met : That immediately after the passage of this act there shall be established a board of pilot commissioners for the State of (Delaware, to consist of five persons, citizens of this State, acquainted with the navigation of the Bay and River Delaware, to be appointed by the Governor of the State, one for the tern of two years, one for the term of four years, and two for the term of five years. Upon the expiration of these respective terms the new appointments shall be made for the term of five years. Any vacancies in the said board by death, resignation or otherwise shall be filled by the Governor for the residue of any such terms. The board of pilot commissioners shall meet in the city of Wilmington on the first Mondays of May and November in each and every year and at the call of the president for the time being of the board whensoever occasion may require. That each member of the said board who shall be appointed by virtue of this act shall, before he takes upon himself the exercise of the duties herein required, take an oath or affirmation before someone authorized by the laws of this State to administer oaths that he shall well and faithfully to the best of his skill, understanding and judgment do execute and discharge the office and duties of a member of the said board of pilot commissioners without favor or partiality according to the laws of this State. And the said board of pilot commissioners, three of whom shall be a quorum, when met, shall have full power and authority under the limitations hereinafter prescribed to grant license to persons to act as pilots in the Bay and River Delaware, and to make rules for their government while employed in that service, to decide all differences which may arise between masters, owners and consignees of ships or vessels and pilots except in cases hereinafter excepted ; Provided that if any person whomsoever shall conceive himself aggrieved by any decision or penalty made, given and imposed by the said board, such persons, may, except in cases hereinafter excepted, Appeal. within six days appeal therefrom to the Superior Court of either of the counties of this State, and on such appeal the like security shall be entered and the like proceedings had as in the case of an appeal from the judgment of a Justice of the Peace for a debt or demand not exceeding one hundred dollars.
SECTION 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any person exercising the profession of a pilot in the Bay and River Delaware shall within three months after the passage of this act apply, in person to the board of pilot commissioners for a license to entitle him to follow that occupation, and that it shall be the duty of at least three of the said board to examine every person so applying as to his fitness in all respects to perform the duties of a pilot and to grant licenses to all such as they shall deem qualified according to their respective abilities. Those of the first class to persons capable of piloting ships or vessels of any practical draught of water. Those of the second class to persons capable of piloting ships or vessels drawing twelve feet of water or under, which licenses shall be in force for one year from the date thereof and until pilots respectively shall next after the expiration or the year arrive with any ship or vessel at any port on the Bay or River Delaware and no longer, but every pilot delivering up his license shall be entitled to receive a new one in lieu thereof, giving like security, as hereinafter directed, unless it shall appear to said board that the person applying is disqualified from 'exercising the duties of a pilot, and if any person shall Penalty for after the time herein prescribed for taking out license exercise not ring the profession of pilot in the Bay and River Delaware without such license or at any time after his license shall have expired, he shall forfeit for every vessel which he shall undertake to pilot to or from any port on the Bay and River Delaware, the sum of thirty dollars, together with the pilotage to, which he would be otherwise entitled, one-half to the use of the person who shall sue for the same, and the other half for the use of the pilot commissioners. Each applicant under this Section shall pay to the board of pilot commissioners the sum of ten dollars.
SECTION 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no license of the first class shall be granted to any person who at the time of passing this act shall not be or within three months previous thereto bath been a licensed pilot by virtue of the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the State of New Jersey, or who shall not have served a regular apprenticeship of at least six years to a licensed pilot on board of a Delaware Bay and River pilot boat, nor any license of the second class except to persons already licensed as aforesaid or such as shall have served an apprenticeship of at least six years in manner aforesaid, nor shall any license be granted until the person applying shall have given bond with sufficient surety to the Governor of this State in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars conditioned for the true and faithful performance of the duties and services required by this act, and that they will not be aiding or assisting in defrauding the revenue of the United States, and that they will deliver up the license to them granted when required by the board in pursuance of the Proviso, provisions of this act. Provided, that no person shall be entitled to a license as pilot for, any branch without first having under the immediate inspection of his master or a pilot of the first branch, conducted a square rigged vessel (at least brig rigged) twenty times up and twenty times down the River and Bay.
SECTION 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person having license as a pilot shall for the space of two weeks refuse or willfully neglect to execute the duties of a pilot, every such pilot upon due proof thereof shall License, forfeit his license ; and if any pilot shall enter into any combination with a view of preventing any other person from executing such duties, every such pilot being thereof duly convicted, shall for the first offense forfeit his license as a pilot for the Bay or River Delaware for the space of three months; for the second offense for the space of one year ; and for the third offense absolutely.
SECTION 5. And be it further enacted, That every ship or vessel propelled by steam or sails arriving from or bound to any foreign port or place, except such as are solely coal laden, passing in or out of the Delaware Bay by the way of Cape Henlopen shall be obliged to receive a pilot. That every such ship or vessel bound to the Delaware Breakwater for orders and not proceeding further up the Delaware Bay shall be obliged to Proviso, receive a pilot; provided she is spoken or a pilot, offers his services outside of the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse, bearing southwest, and if the master of any of the said ships or vessels after she is spoken or a pilot offered, shall refuse or neglect to take a pilot, the master, owner or consignee of such vessel shall forfeit and pay to any such pilot suing for the same a sum equal to the pilotage of such ship or vessel to be recovered by a suit in our State courts or before a Justice of the Peace, or such pilot may pursue his remedy therefor by a libel in admiralty in any United States District Courts as such pilot may see fit and proper to do. SECTION 6. And be it further enacted, That the pilot who shall first offer himself to any inward-bound ships or vessels shall be entitled to take charge thereof; provided his license shall authorize him to pilot ships or vessels of such draught of water, and it shall be the duty of such pilot, if required, to exhibit his license to the master or commander of such ship or vessel, and in case the draught of water of Such ships or vessels shall be greater than such pilot shall be licensed to carry, he may nevertheless, with the consent of the master, take charge of such ship or vessel until a pilot duly qualified shall offer, and if such pilot shall offer before such ship or vessel shall have passed Brandywine Shoals, bearing east, he shall be received and the former pilot entitled to pilotage according to the distance he may have conducted such ship or vessel, and the latter to the residue of the pilotage which shall be ascertained by the president of the board of pilot commissioners for the time being. No vessel employed in and licensed for the coasting trade shall be obliged to receive a pilot or be subjected to the payment of pilotage in case of refusal to receive such pilot, except ships or vessels under register bound to the States or Territories of the United States on the Pacific Ocean, but a coastwise vessel voluntarily taking a pilot, shall pay him the same fees for pilotage as prescribed in the case of a vessel bound to or from a foreign port.
SECTION 7. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of every master or commander of a ship or vessel, outward bound, and he is hereby required to remain six hours after his arrival at the capes, to give to the pilot on board such ship or vessel, an opportunity to be taken out, and if the master or commander of such ship or vessel refuses so to do, and if the same can be done without endangering the vessel aforesaid, the master, owner or consignee of such ship or vessel, shall forfeit and pay to such pilot, his executors or administrators, any sum not exceeding eight hundred dollars, to be recovered in any court of record in which the same may be sued for by action of debt or otherwise.
SECTION 8. And be it further enacted, That if it shall so happen that any first-rate pilot having a boat attending him, shall be carried to sea in any ship or vessel contrary to his inclinations by stress of weather or other unavoidable accident, the master, owner or consignee of such ship or vessel shall pay to such pilot, his executors or administrators the same wages as the master of said vessel receives until the return of said pilot to the said capes.
SECTION 9. And be it further enacted, That when any inward bound ship or vessel having a pilot on board, shall be prevented by the ice, or by any other cause, from proceeding to any port on the Bay or River Delaware, and shall be compelled to proceed to some other port or place not in the Bay and River Delaware, the pilot shall be entitled to receive and recover from the owner or consignee of such ship or vessel full pilotage, as if he had conducted such ship or vessel to such ports, and shall also receive the sum of eight cents for each and every mile he shall travel to his usual place of abode.
SECTION 10. And be it further enacted, That from and after the passage of this act, there shall be paid by every pilot obtaining a license or branch to, authorize him to act as a pilot for the maw Ices. Bay and River Delaware, the sum of fifty cents, to be applied for the support of the board's office.
SECTION 11. And be it further enacted, That the compensation to be paid to pilots for conducting to or from any port on the Bay or River Delaware, all dismasted or otherwise crippled vessel or vessels, which shall have been in anywise injured so as to occasion to the said pilots any extraordinary care or trouble, shall not exceed double the amount which they otherwise would have been entitled to of which the board of pilot commissioners shall judge.
SECTION 12. And be it further enacted, That when any inward bound ship or vessel, having a pilot on board, shall be detained by ice and conducted by him to a place of safety, it shall and may be lawful for the master of any such ship or vessel, after being so detained for forty-eight hours, to discharge his pilot, and in such case the pilot shall be entitled to receive and recover full pilotage as if he had conducted such ship or vessel to her port of destination, and in case such pilot shall be detained more than forty-eight hours, his compensation for such detention shall be three dollars per day for every day he shall be so detained.
SECTION 13. And be further enacted, That if any pilot shall misbehave in the execution of his duty so that damage shall accrue by reason of his negligence or incapacity, it shall and may be lawful for the person or persons so injured or aggrieved, to complain to the board, who shall thereupon appoint a time and place of hearing, of which due notice shall be given to such pilot, and upon due proof being made thereof to the board it shall be lawful for them to fine such pilot in any sum not exceeding the amount of the pilotage of the ship or vessel to which such damage shall have happened, for the use of the pilot commissioners, or to suspend such pilot for any time which the board may think proper, and in every case of suspension the pilot shall deliver up his license to the board to be by them kept till the time for which he may have been suspended shall have expired.
SECTION 14. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any licensed pilot to demand, ask or receive, for the pilotage of any vessel, or for any other services for which compensation is fixed by law, a greater sum than is authorized by this act; and it shall be the duty of the board of pilot commissioners, whenever it shall have been satisfactorily proven to them that any licensed pilot had demanded, asked or received for the pilotage of any vessel, or his services on board any vessel, a greater sum than is authorized by this act to deprive such pilot of his license for the term of one-year from the time when proof thereof shall have been made to them.
SECTION 15. And be it further enacted, That if any person, from and after the passage of this act, shall undertake to pilot any vessel, over one hundred tons register, in the Bay and River Delaware, or shall in any manner exercise or attempt to exercise the profession of a pilot in said Bay and River without a license duly granted by the board of pilot commissioners established under this act, or duly licensed as a pilot under the laws of the States of Pennsylvania or New :Jersey, or after such license from the States of Pennsylvania, New jersey, or this State, shall have expired, every person so offending, shall, upon conviction thereof be fined any sum not exceeding one hundred dollars at the discretion of the court where suit is brought.
SECTION 16. And be it further enacted, The board of pilot commissioners established by this act, shall be a body politic and corporate, and may appoint a register, who shall enter in a book to be provided for that purpose, all applications to and all other proceedings of the said board, and shall countersign all warrants for pilots granted by the board, and said board shall have power to enforce all remedies and collect all money penalties under this act by suits in the courts of this State.
SECTION 17. To provide a fund for the *payment of the salaries of pilot commissioners, each pilot licensed by the said board of pilot commissioners, shall upon every renewal of his license, pay to the said board the sum of five dollars. SECTION 18. The fees for pilotage are hereby established as follows: For every merchant vessel propelled by steam or sails, inward or outward bound, and not exempted from pilotage by virtue of these regulations, drawing not more than twelve feet, three dollars per foot. For every vessel drawing over twelve feet and not more than fifteen feet, four 16/100, dollars per foot. For every vessel drawing over fifteen feet and not more than eighteen feet, four 50/100 dollars per foot. For every vessel drawing over eighteen feet and not more than twenty five feet, five dollars per foot. For every vessel drawing over twenty feet, five 50/100 dollars per foot. And they shall also receive, over and above the said sums for conducting ships or vessels to or from any port on the Bay or River Delaware, between the first day of November and the first day of April inclusive, in any year, the additional sum of ten dollars. That every ship or vessel bound to the Breakwater for orders, shall pay pilotage fees as follows : A sum equal to half pilotage to the port of Philadelphia, the same pilotage fees when outward bound, and if such ship or vessel proceeds to Philadelphia or any other port on the Bay or River Delaware, the full pilotage fees as fixed by this section, in addition.
SECTION 19. And be it further enacted, That this act shall be deemed and taken to be a public act.
Passed at Dover, April 5, 1881.