🔍 Key Concepts

• Review Rule 24 – Towing and Pushing in the Navigation Rules, especially the lights for a tug towing astern. • Recall the meaning of two vs. three masthead (white) lights in a vertical line on a power-driven vessel engaged in towing. • Think about how tow length (greater or less than 200 meters) changes the required masthead lights.

💭 Think About

• Count the number of white masthead lights in the vertical line and match that pattern to the towing rules. • Ask yourself: does this pattern represent a vessel that is simply power-driven, or one that is towing astern, and how does the tow length affect that pattern? • Compare the illustration carefully to the light patterns for dredges versus towing vessels—which one actually uses multiple white masthead lights in a vertical line?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify in Rule 24 whether three white masthead lights in a vertical line are ever used for a dredge at anchor. • Confirm from the rules that a tow exceeding 200 meters requires a different masthead light pattern than a tow less than 200 meters. • Make sure you identify the sidelight colors and their position (green on starboard, red on port) to confirm you are viewing the vessel from ahead, not astern.