Ken Kurtis
Contributor
Not exactly. If you read through the CFRs that cover watches and such, there are very few specifics other than to say it must occur and some form of "as the captain master of the vessel sees fit" is in there. So "Use your best judgement but when things go south, we'll tell you youBut this was already required by Coast Guard regulations.
are wrong and should have done it differently. And don't blame us - USCG - for not finding fault when it could have made a difference."
For the Conception specifically, the roving watchman was on their COI. It was also not well-defined but simply says: "A MEMBER OF THE VESSEL'S CREW SHALL BE DESIGNATED BY THE MASTER AS A ROVING PATROL AT ALL TIMES, WHETHER OR NOT THE VESSEL IS UNDERWAY, WHEN THE PASSENGER'S BUNKS ARE OCCUPIED." So what's roving? Continuously? Once every five minutes? Once an hour? On every deck simultaneously? Lots of gray area here IMHO. Not as cut-and-dried as some would think. (COI is attached for those interested.)