CAB11-57-11 — Page 96

CHAPTER VI (ii).

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2. Captain Barnes-Lawrence, R.N., who is Harbour Master, will be appointed Chief Examining Officer of Shipping by the Governor when these arrangements are brought into action. He will act in conjunction with the Military Officer Commanding the Hong Kong Defences, and will have authority over the movements of all vessels in port of Hong Kong.

He will be responsible for the identification and, if necessary, examination of vessels entering the port, for their being sately piloted through the defences when special pilotage is necessary, for assigning them anchorages in the port, and for regulating the internal harbour arrangements generally.

3. The steamers named in Schedule (A) belonging to the port or similar vessels, hired if necessary, will be placed at his disposal for use as examination steamers. Five steamers will be required to be on duty at one time, and five for reliefs.

4. The personnel named in Schedule (B) will be placed at his disposal to provide Examining Officers, crews, and relief crews for the examination steamers.

All pilots will be placed by the

under his orders, and he will retain under his immediate direction as many of them as may, from time to time, be necessary to carry out these regulations.

5. The examination ground, where vessels are to be brought to for examination, is outside the examination lines, and is shown on the chart or map accompanying the Defence Scheme. The inner limit of the examination ground, beyond which arriving vessels will not be allowed to pass without permission, is termed the examination line. It is drawn at the eastern entrance from Pak-sha-wan Battery, N. 40° E. (true), through Lyemun Point. At the western entrance from Upper Belcher Battery, N. 40° Ŵ. (true). This line intersects at a point on the Kellet Bank with a line drawn from Stonecutters West Battery, S. 27° 30′ W. (true). To the north of Stonecutters the line is drawn from Stonecutters West Battery, N. 7° 30' W. (true). These batteries, which are termed the examination batteries, will communicate with the examination steamer by the flashing system at night and the semaphore by day, supplemented by the megaphone.

(NOTE-At ports where there is more than one examination ground, separate arrangements are to be made for each of them.)

6. The Chief Examining Officer will expedite, as far as possible, the passage through the defences of vessels which are known to him as friendly.

7. Should the circumstances (i.e., if mines are laid or the ordinary channels in any way obstructed), in the opinion of the Military Officer Commanding, render it advisable, permission to cross the examination line will not be granted to any vessel which has not on board a pilot approved by the Chief Examining Officer.

8. Every ship on arrival in the port will anchor or moor in the position assigned to her by the Chief Examining Officer.

9. If the regulation contained in paragraph 7 is in force, no vessel shall be allowed to leave the port until she has received a pilot approved by the Chief Examining Officer.

10. At ports where compulsory pilotage now exists, the pilots should work from the examination steamer, and be acquainted with these regulations. If the vessel employed as examination steamer has not sufficient accommodation for the pilots, the pilot vessel should work in conjunction with her.

In cases where the pilots' cruising ground is at a distance from the examination ground, they should be made acquainted with the general regulations for the Examination Service by the harbour authorities at the port from which they hail, so that they may be prepared to stop the ships of which they are in charge when sum- moned by the examination steamer on their way into port.

A large sailing ship coming into a port in charge of a pilot thus informed could, if identified as friendly, be given permission to enter by the examination steamer without the delay that would occur if the pilot were ignorant of what was expected.

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