Regulations for the government of the United States Navy (1865)

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Section 9.

Navigator.

448 The Line Officer next in rank to the Executive Officer shall be the Navigator.

449 He shall, at sea, ascertain and report daily to the Commanding Officer the vessel's position at meridian, and make such other reports of position, variation of the compass, &c, as the Commanding Officer may require.

450 He is to have charge of, and must account for, all nautical instruments, books, charts, national flags, and signals.

451 He shall frequently examine the compasses, time glasses, log and lead lines, and thus see that they are constantly in proper order for service.

452 He shall examine the charts of all coasts which the vessel may visit, and note upon them any errors which he may discover, and inform the Commanding Officer of the same, who shall report them to the Navy Department.

453 When the vessel may be approaching any land or shoals, or entering any port or harbor, he shall be very attentive to the soundings, and he shall at all times inform the Commander of any danger to which he may think the vessel exposed, whether under charge of a pilot or not.

454 He shall have charge of keeping the ship's log-book, and shall see that all particulars are duly entered in it, according to such forms as are or may be prescribed, and he shall, immediately after such entries, send it to the watch officers, that they may sign their names at the end of the remarks in their respective watches while the circumstances are fresh in their memories, and he shall take it to the Commanding Officer for his inspection immediately after noon of each day.

455 There shall be entered on the log-slate and log book, with minute exactness, the following particulars:
1. The name and rank, or rating, of all persons who may join or be discharged from the vessel; all transfers, deaths, and desertions ; the names of all persons made prisoners by an enemy, and of all absent without leave; the names of all passengers, with times of coming aboard and leaving; the direction of the wind, state of the weather, courses steered, and distances sailed; the time when any particular evolution, exercise, or other service was performed ; the signal number of all signals made, the time when, and by what vessels, and to what vessel they were, made; the nature and extent of all public punishments inflicted, with the name and crime of the offenders; the rating and dis-rating of Petty Officers; the result of all observations made to find the ship's place, and all dangers discovered in navigation.
2. The grounding of the ship, and the loss of or serious injury to boats, spars, sails, rigging, and stores of any kind, with the circumstances under which they happened, and the extent of the injury received.
3. A particular account of all stores received, from whom received, or by whom furnished, and the department for which they were received.
4. A particular account of all stores condemned by survey, or converted to any other purpose than that for which they were originally intended.
5. A particular account of all stores lent, or otherwise sent out of the vessel, and by what authority it was done.
6. All the marks and numbers of each cask or bale, which, on being opened, is found to contain less than is specified by the invoice, or than it ought to contain, with the deficiency found
7. Every alteration made in the allowance of provisions, and by whose order.
8. The employment of any hired vessel, her dimensions in tonnage, the name of the master or owner, the number of her crew, how or for what purpose employed, by whose order, and the reasons for her employment.
9. The draught of water, light and loaded, as furnished at the navy yard ; and always on going into or leaving port the ship's draught is to be taken and entered on the log.

456 After the log has been signed by the officers of the watch, no alteration shall be made therein, except to correct some error, or supply some omission, and then only with the approbation of the Commanding Officer, and upon the recollection of the officer who had charge of the watch in which the alteration or addition is proposed, who shall then sign the same if satisfied of its correctness.

457 The navigator shall deliver to the Commanding Officer of the vessel, signed by himself, and, after careful comparison, certified to be correct, a fair copy of the log-book, every six months, to be transmitted by the first safe opportunity to the Bureau of Navigation.

458 The original log-book shall be kept by the vessel until she is paid off, when it shall be placed in charge of the Commanding Officer of the yard, and by him transmitted to the Bureau of Navigation.

459 Besides the log-book, he is to keep a remark-book, in which all the hydrographical information he can obtain is to be carefully inserted, as well as a description of the instruments he may employ in any of the observations hereafter mentioned. He is to determine as accurately as he can the various particulars relating to navigation of every place which the vessel may visit, entering the results in his remark-book, under the following heads:
1. Latitude.
2. Longitude.
3. Variation of the compass.
4. Time of high water immediately following new and full moon.
5. Rise and fall of the tides at springs and neaps.
6. Prevailing winds.
7. Periods of the year at which the wet and dry seasons prevail, if any.
8. Seasons at which hurricanes prevail.
9. The temperature of the chronometer room at the time observations are taken.

The particular spot at the place visited, to which the latitude and longitude refer, is to be carefully noted; also, the number and nature of the observations, and the means by which they were made, whether the artificial or sea horizon was used ; and with reference to the longitude, if obtained with chronometers by means of meridian distances from another place, he is to state the number employed, their general character, the age of the rates used, or the interval since which they were last rated, with the longitude he has assumed of the place measured from. He is to observe the variation of the compass by amplitudes or azimuths, at least once every day, whether at sea or in port, excepting only when refitting in harbor. The azimuth compass is to be always placed, when practicable, in the same precise situation amidships, marking the point where each of the tripod legs stands; and he is to take care that the direction of the ship's head at the time of observation shall be recorded, as well as the difference between the standard or azimuth and the steering compasses, by which precaution alone can the real course of the ship be regulated. These variations are to be daily inserted in columns at the end of his remark-book, along with the chip.s place and the direction of her head at the time of observation. The local attraction is to be determined before the ship leaves the United States, as well as after any material change of latitude, and is then to be tabulated by him for every point of the compass, so that the corrections on each course may be readily applied in working the ship's reckoning. In all places he is to ascertain the direction and velocity of the currents, the set and strength of the tides, with the limits of their rise and fall, and the time of high water of the tide which immediately follows the periods of the new and full moon. Ho is to describe as particularly as he can the appearances of foreign coasts, pointing out the remarkable objects by which they may be distinguished, so as to render a stranger certain of recognizing his land fall. He is to apply for boats to sound and survey any shoals or harbors which have not been correctly laid down in the charts, and the results are to be projected on a large and intelligible scale. In his remark-book he is carefully to note all inaccuracies in any of the charts supplied to the ship. He is frequently to present this remark-book to the Commander for examination, and on tLe first of January, in every year, he is to deliver to him a correct copy of it, accompanied by all the charts, plans, and views of the coasts and headlands which he has made during the past year, all of which the Commander will transmit by the first safe opportunity to his Commander-in-Chief to be forwarded to the Department.

460 Every vessel, before sailing, shall be furnished with a skeleton chart embracing her probable cruising ground, on which he shall lay down her track and daily run during the whole time of her absence, which chart shall be transmitted to the Bureau of Navigation at the end of the cruise.

461 He shall keep a book, in which he shall make all calculations connected with the navigation of the vessel. No erasures shall be made, but the book shall be a complete record of all observations, computations and results, with the dates upon which the observations and computations were made. At the end of the cruise this book shall be sent to the Bureau of Navigation by the Commander of the vessel.

462 He is, if ordered to a vessel before a stowage is commenced, to superintend, under the direction of the Commanding Officer of the yard, or Commander of the vessel, as the case may be, the stowage of the ballast, water, provisions, and all other articles.

463 In stowing provisions he shall take care that the oldest be stowed so that they may be first issued, breaking out and restowing those already on board if necessary for that purpose, unless otherwise directed.

464 When the stowage of the hold shall be completed, he shall make an entry on the log book, specifying particularly the quantity and arrangement of the ballast, the number, size, and disposition of the tanks and casks, and of the quantity and stowage of provisions and other stores.

465 Accurate plans must be made of the stowage of the hold, which be shall insert in the log-book; and if any material change should afterwards be made in the stowage, the change must be noted, and new plans be inserted in the log book.

466 If the hold should be stowed at a navy yard, or private establishment, under the direction of the Commander of the vessel, he will furnish the latter with plans and descriptions for transmission to the Commandant of the yard, or the Bureau of Construction.

467 He is to visit the hold daily, and cable tiers and chain lockers weekly, or oftener if necessary, and see that they are kept clear and in as good order as circumstances will admit.

468 He shall exercise a particular supervision of the anchors and cables; he shall see that they are properly secured at all times, that the cables are distinctly marked, and that all necessary arrangements are made for getting under way, anchoring, mooring, unmooring, slipping, or shifting parts of one cable to another; for this purpose he will see that the shackle-pins can be removed readily.

469 He will be careful to prevent any waste or improper expenditure of fuel or water, and he is to report daily, when at sea, to the Commanding Officer, the quantity of each expended in the last twenty-four hours, and the quantity remaining on hand.

470 Should he be removed or suspended, he shall sign the log-book and deliver it to his successor, taking his receipt for the same, and for all other articles under his charge, and shall deliver to the Commander a fair copy of the remark-book, made up to the day of his removal or suspension.

471 He shall not keep watch, except required to do so by order of the Commander of the vessel.

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