Galatz

According to the Regulation of the Police of Romania’s Danubian Ports and River Banks (24 March 1879), “for ascertaining the good state of the different maritime and fluvial ships, in each harbour there will be established a monitoring commission made up of the captain of the harbour, a ship captain and two experts appointed for a term of a year by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If the ship is under a foreign flag the ascertainment will be done in the presence of the respective consul or of his delegate”[1].

After 1900 “Bureau Veritas” was also present in the Romanian ports, and the local business circles were interested in having their ships accredited by this institution. In 1906 the authorities proposed to introduce a clause in the law of the commercial marine so as to have “Bureau Veritas” recognised by the state, with its experts appointed by the harbour master’s office[2].

All issues related to shipping (registration of ships, the observation of the loading and unloading in the port, the completion of the sanitary instructions, contraventions, fines etc.) fell under the jurisdiction of the captain of the harbour, according to the data presented in the template regarding the organisation of the port authorities.

Picture 1.7_1 The Port (about 1914)
Source: www.bvau.ro

[1] “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), 77–78.

[2] Emil Octavian Mocanu, Portul Brăila de la regimul de porto franco la Primul Război Mondial (1836–1914) (Brăila: Editura Istros, 2012), 301–302.

References

Websites:

The official site of the Fluvial Administration of the Lower Danube

http://www.afdj.ro/

Archival sources:

Serviciul Judeţean Galaţi al Arhivelor Naţionale (The National Archives, Galaţi Branch), Inspectoratul General al Navigaţiei şi Porturilor Galaţi (The General Inspectorate of Navigation and Ports Galaţi), files starting with 1879 (246 files relative to the Romanian Danubian ports covering the period 1879–1914).

Serviciul Judeţean Galaţi al Arhivelor Naţionale (The National Archives, Galaţi Branch), Căpitănia Portului Galaţi (Galaţi Habour Master’s Office), files starting with 1884 (27 files).

Serviciul Judeţean Galaţi al Arhivelor Naţionale (The National Archives, Galaţi Branch), Comisia Europeană a Dunării (European Commission of the Danube), files starting with 1856.

Bibliography:

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

Mocanu, Emil Octavian, Portul Brăila de la regimul de porto franco la Primul Război Mondial (1836–1914) [The Port of Brăila from the Free Port Regime to World War One (1836–1914)] (Brăila: Editura Istros, 2012).