Steamboat Inspection Service - Act of 1838

Act of 1838

The safety inspection of merchant vessels documented under the flag of the United States has been authorized in varying degrees by Congress and required by law since 1838. In the early days, the United States Congress hesitated to pass adequate safety laws for fear of interfering with the growing and economically important steamboat industry.

The beginning and development of a federal maritime safety program arose from disasters that caused much death, injury and property loss; experience showed the greatest casualties were caused by boiler explosions and by fire aboard ship. As the steamboat industry grew, so did the general public's awareness of the need for marine safety laws. The public's growing concern over these maritime accidents prompted Congress to begin to act to protect the public, beginning with passing a law on July 7, 1838, to "provide better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam" (5 Stat. L., 304). The law was enforced by the United States Department of Justice.

Captain Edward Tripp, who had introduced steamboating to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1813 with the building of the steamboat Chesapeake, was the first Baltimore hull inspector and was appointed by a federal district judge to perform the safety inspection on the few vessels in Baltimore. Captain Tripp performed these duties between 1838 and 1852. At that time, the law provided a US$5.00 fee for each inspection to be paid by the vessel's owner.