Professional mariners, military and civilian, from cadets to captains, will find this book's thorough commentary on the rules of the road and its analysis of numerous collision cases in which the courts construed and applied those rules an invaluable reference. Farwells' Rules of the Nautical Road continues to provide maritime attorneys professional insight into how the rules apply in context and offers rigorous analysis of their application by courts and administrative tribunals For nearly eighty years, this book has been viewed as the indispensable collision law reference work.

This new edition of Captain Farwell's venerable reference on the nautical rules of the road preserves the carefully crafted wisdom on the first edition, published in 1941 while providing up-to-date information to help the modern mariner understand how those rules are being interpreted and applied today.

The ninth edition includes:

Updated coverage of the rules by incorporating previous amendments to the 1972 COLREGS and the U.S. Inland Rules.

Describes the International Maritime Organization's ongoing regulatory scoping project examining issues raised by the introduction of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), while noting the as-yet unanswered COLREGs compliance challenges such vessels will faceIntegrates the watchstander qualifications and requirements imposed by the STCW Convention and Code, the SOLAS Convention and by U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard directives.

Incorporates equipment and watchkeeping requirements from the U.S. Navigation Safety Standards Updates collision cases from the US, UK, and Canadian courts, and adds relevant interpretations and decisions from Coast Guard Law Bulletins and Coast Guard Decisions.

Analyzes several well-publicized collisions that occurred since publication of the eighth edition

Updates coverage of the narrow channel rule, taking particular note of the difficulties in determining where the rule applies.

Updates the materials on the look-out and risk of collision responsibilities to address integrated bridge systems, automatic identification systems, voyage data recorders, and the increasingly "active" role of VTS.