---
kind: "section"
citation: "33 C.F.R. § 401.42"
title: "33"
number: "401.42"
heading: "Passing hand lines."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/33/401.42"
---

# §401.42. Passing hand lines.

- (a) At locks, hand lines shall be secured to the mooring lines and passed as follows:
  - (1) A downbound vessel shall use its own hand lines, secured to the eye at the end of the mooring lines, by means of a bowline, which hand lines shall be passed to the linehandlers at the lock as soon as the vessel passes the open gates;
    - (i) For the #4 mooring wire, the hand line shall be passed to the linehandlers at the lock as soon as the vessel's aft fairleads pass the open gates.
    - (ii) For the #2 mooring wire, the hand line shall be passed to the linehandlers at the lock as soon as the forward fairleads pass the last HFM unit.
  - (2) Hand lines shall be passed to upbound vessels by the linehandlers as soon as the vessel passes the last HFM unit, and secured, by means of a clove hitch, to the mooring lines 60 cm behind the splice of the eye;
  - (3) At Iroquois Lock and Lock 8, Welland Canal, both upbound and downbound vessels shall use their own hand lines as provided in [paragraph (a)(1)](#a-1) of this section; and
  - (4) Upbound vessels of overall length in excess of 218 m in Locks 4 and 5, Welland Canal, shall secure the hand lien to the eye of the No. 1 mooring wire by means of a bowline.
- (b) Mooring lines shall not be passed over the side of a vessel in a manner dangerous to a lock crew.

## Notes

### Amendments

[39 FR 10900, Mar. 22, 1974, as amended at 47 FR 51122, Nov. 12, 1982; 55 FR 48599, Nov. 21, 1990; 61 FR 19551, May 2, 1996; 70 FR 12972, Mar. 17, 2005; 90 FR 1883, Jan. 10, 2025]

### Authority

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 983(a) and 984(a)(4), as amended; 49 CFR 1.101, unless otherwise noted.

### Source

Source: 39 FR 10900, Mar. 22, 1974, unless otherwise noted.

### Amendments

[39 FR 10900, Mar. 22, 1974, as amended at 47 FR 51122, Nov. 12, 1982; 55 FR 48599, Nov. 21, 1990; 61 FR 19551, May 2, 1996; 70 FR 12972, Mar. 17, 2005; 90 FR 1883, Jan. 10, 2025]