The Steamboat Inspection Service was created by an Act of Congress on June 28, 1838 which authorized the President to appoint three persons to detect causes of explosions in steam boilers. The Act of February 28, 1871, authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to establish boards of local inspectors. The Bureau of Navigation was created by an act of Congress, July 5, 1884 under the jurisdiction of the Department of Treasury and in 1903, jurisdiction was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor. Steamboat Inspection Service and Bureau of Navigation consolidated June 30, 1932, forming the Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection. The name was changed by congressional act, May 27, 1936, to Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation.

Regulation of commerce and navigation in Alaska included establishing a board of local inspectors of steam vessels, April 21, 1898 (30 Stat. L., 360. R.S., 4414, amended). On April 9, 1960, inspection districts were established at Juneau and Saint Michael, Alaska; one inspector of hulls and one inspector of boilers. (34 Stat. L., 106)