Inspectors shall, before granting an original license to any person to act as an officer of a vessel, require the applicant to make written application upon the blank form furnished by the Department of Commerce, to be filed in the inspectors' office. When practicable, applicants for master's, mate's, pilot's, or engineer's license shall present to the inspectors, to be filed with their application, discharges or letters from the master or other officer under whom they have served, certifying to the name of the vessel and in what capacity the applicant has served under him; also period of such service. Inspectors shall also, when practicable, require applicant for pilot's license to have the written indorsement of the master and engineer of the vessel upon which he has served, and of one licensed pilot, as to his qualifications. In the case of applicants for original engineer's license, they shall also, when practicable, have the indorsement of the master and engineer of a vessel on which they have served, together with one other licensed engineer.
The first license issued to any person by a United States inspector shall be considered an original license, where the United States records show no previous issue to such applicant.
No original license shall be issued to any naturalized citizen on less experience in any grade than would have been required of a citizen of the United States by birth. (R. S., 4405.)
The requirements for a license have been greatly modified, and the following circular letter sets forth the minimum technical knowledge necessary to pass the examiners:
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Steamboat Inspection Service
washington
June 13, 1917.
U. S. Supervising and Local Inspectors, Steamboat-Inspection Service.
Under the provisions of Section 4405, Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended by the act of Congress approved February 8, 1907, the executive committee of the Board of Supervising Inspectors, Steamboat-Inspection Service, at a called meeting held in Washington, D. C., from June 4 to 12, inclusive, 1917, adopted the following resolutions:
These amendments of the rules, having received the approval of the Secretary of Commerce on June 12, 1917, have now the force of law, and must be observed accordingly.