Office of the Historian

811.801 Wireless/100

The Danish Legation to the Department of State

Aide-Mémoire

The attention of the Danish Government has been called to a bill, S. 3954, to amend the Communications Act of 1934 for the purpose of promoting safety of life through the use of radio, and for other [Page 622] purposes. This bill was substituted by S. 4619 introduced on May 12, 1936.

The proposed legislation as a whole follows the corresponding provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1929. It raises, however, the requirements above those of that Convention with regard to operators, watches and auto-alarm.

Sec. 354 provides as follows:

  • “(a) Each cargo ship required by this part to be fitted with a radio installation and which is not fitted with an auto-alarm, and each passenger ship required by this part to be fitted with a radio installation, shall, for safety purposes, carry at least two qualified operators, and, where the hours out of port exceed forty-eight, at least three qualified operators shall be provided.
  • “(b) A cargo ship, required by this part to be fitted with a radio installation, which is fitted with an auto-alarm in accordance with this title, shall, for safety purposes, carry at least one qualified operator.”

According to their wording these provisions would also apply to foreign ships.

For Danish cargo ships of 1600 to 5.500 gross tons and passenger ships the standards of which in this respect are fixed by law in accordance with the International Convention the above quoted provisions would entail considerably increased burdens in form of either additional equipment or more personnel.

The Danish Minister would greatly appreciate if through the good offices of the State Department these observations might be brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities.

Washington , June 3, 1936.