Routing at Sea 1857–1977

Abstract

The Royal Institute of Navigation, with its counterparts in France and Germany, played a fundamental role in the introduction of traffic separation at sea, a role that is freely acknowledged in Imco's publications on the subject. J. H. Beattie, who was a member of the successive international working groups whose reports led to the introduction of routing, first of all in the Dover Strait and later throughout North West Europe, recounts the history of routing at sea, whose origins lay perhaps in the Great Lakes. A condensed version of this paper was presented at an Ordinary Meeting of the Institute on 14 December 1977, followed by Captain Emden's paper which is printed at page 203 with the ensuing discussion. Captain Maybourn was in the chair.