Constantza

After Romania’s acquisition of Dobrudja, the Service for the Construction of Constanţa Harbour was established within the Ministry of Public Works, and it initially dealt with maintaining the existent works at Constanţa, dating from the period of the British railway company. The exploitation of the local dockyards, quays and entrepots was done according to the provisions of the Law of 6 March 1883 by the General Direction of Romanian Railways. Within this institution there was created, in 1888, a Service of Maritime Navigation. In 1905 a new law instituted a special fund for building or buying new ships, as well as for their insurance. The Service of Maritime Navigation was transferred in 1906 from the Romanian Railways Service to the Ministry of Public Works, together with all its estates, inventory objects and buildings under construction [1].

At the beginning of the 20^th century, after the resumption of works at Constanţa, there were adopted new regulations for the organisation of the harbour. In March 1908 a new law unified the activity of the Service of Construction with that of the Maritime Navigation, and created within the Ministry of Public Works the General Direction of Ports and Waterways Communication, and at Constanţa the Service of Construction and Exploitation of the Harbour. After 1910 the institution had several names: the Service of Maritime Ports, the Direction of the Service of the Maritime Ports, the Administration of the Ports and Waterways Communication [2].

The Service of the Harbour Master’s Office was led by a captain commander detached from the Romanian Navy, supported by an assistant secretary. The service was placed under the direct authority of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, which was to exercise the direction and control of the port police. The attributions of the port master were numerous, being stipulated in the 1898 law for the organisation of the military navy: the captain applied navigation regulations, registered ships, observed the loading and unloading in the port, applied sanitary instructions, made the maritime census, imposed the rules regarding the commercial code etc.

In early 20^th century there was also a functional Service of Piloting, consisting of three pilots appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Their service was free of charge. In 1902, after a shipwreck there was organised a salvaging station, endowed with a boat and necessary tools, working under the jurisdiction of the harbour master [3].

 [1] Valentin Ciorbea, Portul Constanţa de la antichitate la mileniul III (Constanţa: Europolis, 1994), 117.

 [2] Ibid., 118; Petre Covacef, “Construcţiile executate în portul Constanţa până la Primul Război Mondial”, Analele Dobrogei, new series, 5:2 (1999), 144–145.

 [3] Serviciul Judeţean Constanţa al Arhivelor Naţionale, Căpitania portului Constanta, Description of the archival fund, 1–4. “Regulamentul Poliţiei Porturilor şi Malurilor Dunărene a României”, in vol. Codul maritim şi fluvial, edited by Constantin C. Tonegaru, A. Theodoru, C. Ioaniţiu (Bucharest: Tipografia Lupta, 1934), 49–56.

References

Archival sources:

Serviciul Judeţean Constanţa al Arhivelor Naţionale (The National Archives, Constanţa Branch), Căpitănia Portului Constanţa (Constanţa Habour Master’s Office), files starting with 1892.

Bibliography:

Ciorbea, Valentin, Portul Constanţa de la antichitate la mileniul III [Constanţa Harbour from the Antiquity to the Third Millenium] (Constanţa: Europolis, 1994).

Codul maritim şi fluvial [The Maritime and Fluvial Code], edited by Constantin C. Tonegaru, A. Theodoru, C. Ioaniţiu (Bucharest: Tipografia Lupta, 1934).

Covacef, Petre, “Construcţiile executate în portul Constanţa până la Primul Război Mondial” [The Constructions done in the Harbour of Constanţa until World War One], Analele Dobrogei, new series, 5:2 (1999), 140–183.