Revisiting the Lessons of the Early Steering and Sailing Rules for an e-Navigation Age

Abstract

Armed with the axiom that the best way to avoid collision at sea is for one ship to pass under the stern of the other, this paper revisits the early steering and sailing rules. It conjectures that the port tack rule was an antidote to the sailing ship's imperative to gain ground to windward even at the cost of risk of collision. It draws attention to evidence that with early steamships, free of the port tack rule, one altered course to pass astern of the other and that, in fact, the one to alter was invariably the faster of the two. It traces, to the want of prescribed navigation lights, the introduction of the port helm/right rudder rule for all ships by day and by night. It records how with the introduction of prescribed lights the port tack rule, though in a form proposed by France, was re-introduced for sailing ships together with an analogous crossing rule for streamers. The paper concludes that the port tack rule is redundant in this collision conscious age and that its objective of motivating one ship to alter course can be achieved by making both ships to blame in the event of a collision. It is submitted that these lessons offer the e-navigator a method of avoiding collision at sea applicable in all situations; the only technical requirement for its safe conduct is for each ship to be able to tell instantly and accurately at any moment how the other ship is heading.