If you are sailing in American waters, these are things you need to know!
There are some important things to know if you are on a ship in US waters.
I know some of this stuff may really surprise you, but you don’t have the same constitutional rights when you’re on America’s waterways.
Article III of the Constitution granted full judicial authority over all waterways under federal control. In other words, when it comes to boating law, there really is no such thing as state law, it’s federal law.
Now it’s true that the state may have control over the lakes that are within the state, but the federal government controls the waterways, what does that mean? It means every bay, river, inlet, that empties into the ocean, that’s where our constitutional rights, specifically, the Fourth Amendment, don’t apply.
Are our constitutional rights not applied? what do I want to say with that?
The Bill of Rights protects US citizens from certain government control. Article 4 states that there will be no unreasonable searches and seizures. That’s why when you’re driving down a highway in America, a police officer can’t just decide to pull you over. They must have what’s called probable cause, like weaving in and out of traffic or speeding, that’s probable cause, then they’re allowed to pull you over. But even once they pull you over, they’re not allowed to search for no reason or sixteen and they can’t just say open the trunk of your car I want to see what’s in there! No, they have to call a judge to get a search warrant.
The Fourth Amendment protects us from unreasonable searches and seizures, but in navigable waters, we don’t have that Fourth Amendment right in the same way that we do when on land. The federal government does not have to have probable cause to detain someone on a ship in navigable waters.
The Coast Guard is an arm of the federal government, they can arrest anyone and they can board any vessel without probable cause and they are authorized to do so. They can also arrest you without probable cause. So don’t forget that the Coast Guard can and will board any vessel they see fit. They do not have to ask permission and can arrest you without probable cause.
Now, where does the coast guard get this authority? By statute of law.
Here’s a quick story. I have a friend who is a sailor who lives aboard, he rents his 50 foot boat on a lake inlet in S. Florida. At about one o’clock in the morning, he heard these loud bangs that woke him up. Who the hell is calling my ship! When he came out ready to fight, he was blinded by a spotlight. There was a coast guard boat that had the searchlight on it and there was an officer behind a machine gun on the deck! The PA horn declared, prepare to be boarded.
I was really upset and thinking, I haven’t done anything wrong.
We don’t expect the police to show up when they weren’t doing anything wrong. That expectation is in fourth amendment rights, which don’t apply when we’re in navigable waters of the US. So just cooperate with them and you won’t have a problem, they have the legal authority as written in the law.
I hope this has given you an idea that will give you the knowledge you need to know and expect with the legal issues that can arise when boating in US waters.