This tickled my interest, so I dug out my trusty (Pocket Oxford) English dictionary, which defines ..
'Marine' as: 'Of, from, beside, for use on, the sea' 'Maritime' as: 'Situated, dwelling, found, near the sea (~ town, people, plants); connected with seafaring (~ life, insurance)' 'Coast' as: 'Sea, boundary, line of shore, seaboard, ..' and ''~ guard' as: 'Body of men formed orig. to prevent smuggling, now chiefly a lifesaving service' So, how does it come about that they (the MCA) must now dictate what happens on the, mostly man-made, canals - which have no true connection with the sea until the (fresh) waters which they transport actually enter it? OK, I can see a possibility *below* the last lock gate, or when the waters officially become 'salt', - but above it? Surely it is *BW* who should be making all the rules about what happens on the waters they control - wasn't that one of their *own* original purposes? Or is that taking a much too simplistic approach? Trevor ........................................ Garry wrote: Let me explain. > On the 27th March 2009 We were sent a letter from BW, which > I received on the 29th, saying that MCA ( Maritime & > Coastguard Agency ) has introduced a new statutory > requirement that affects the operators of trading and > passenger boats on the inland waterways. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
