vessel which has been or shall be registered, pursuant to any law of the United States, and which hereafter shall be seized, or captured and condemned, under the authority of any foreign power, or that shall by sale become the property of a foreigner or foreigners, shall, after the passing of this age, be entitled to, or capable of receiving a new register, notwithstanding such ship or vessel should afterwards become American property; but that all such ships and vessels shall be taken and considered, to all intents and purposes, as foreign vessels: Provided, that nothing in this act contained, shall extend to, or be construed to affect the person or persons owning any ship or vessel, at the time of the seizure, or capture of the same, or shall prevent such owner, in case he regain a property in such ship or vessel, so condemned, by purchase or otherwise, from claiming and receiving a new register for the same, as he might or could have done, if this act had not been passed.

[This act passed June twenty-seventh, 1797.]

An Act supplementary to the act entitled "An act providing passports for the ships and vessels of the United States."

BE

E it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That every un-registered ship or vessel owned by a citizen or citizens of the United States, and sailing with a sea-letter, going to any foreign country, shall, before she departs from the United States, at the request of the master, be furnished by the collector of the district where such vessel may be, with a passport of the form prescribed and established by the act to which this is a supplement, for which the master shall pay to the collector ten dollars, and be subject to the rules and conditions prescribed in the said act, for ships and vessels of the United States.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be paid on every such unregistered ship or vessel, sailing or trading to any foreign country, other than some port or place in America, for each and every voyage, the same sum at the time of clearing outwards, to be received and accounted for in the same manner as is by said act required in cases of ships and vessels of the United States.

[This act passed March second, 1803.]

cr

An Act in addition to the act, entitled " An act concerning the registering and recording of ships and vessels of the United States," and to the act, entitled "An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage."

BE

E it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That if any person shall knowingly make, utter, or publish any false sea letter, Mediterranean passport, or certificate of registry, or shall knowingly avail himself of any such Mediterranean passport, sea letter, or certificate of registry, he shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, to be recovered by action of debt, in the name of the United States, in any court of competent jurisdiction; and if an officer of the United States, he shall for ever thereafter be rendered incapable of holding any office of trust or profit, under the authority of the United States.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the comptroller of the Treasury, to cause to be provided, blank certificates of registry, with such water and other secret marks as he may direct, which marks shall be made known only to the collectors and their deputies, and to the consuls or commercial agents of the United States; and from and after the thirty-first day of December next, no certificate of registry shall be issued, except such as shall have been provided and marked as aforesaid; and the ships or vessels of the United States, which shall have been duly registered as such, shall be entitled to new certificates of registry (gratis) in exchange for their old certificates of registry: And it shall be the duty of the respective collectors, on the departure of any such ship or vessel, after the said thirty-first day of December, from the district to which such ship or vessel shall belong, to issue a new certificate accordingly, and to retain and deface the former certificate.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That when any ship or vessel, which has been, or which shall be registered pursuant to any law of the United States, shall whilst such ship or vessel is without the limits of the United States, be sold or transferred in whole or in part to a citizen or citizens of the United States, such ship or vessel on her first arrival in the United States thereafter, shall be entitled to all the privileges and benefits of a ship or vessel of the United States: Provided, That all the requisites of law, in order to the registry of ships or vessels, shall be complied with, and a new certificate of registry obtained for such ship or vessel, within three days from the time at which the

master or other person having the charge or command of such ship or vessel, is required to make his final report upon her first arrival afterwards as aforesaid, agreeably to the thirtieth section of the act, passed on the second day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, entitled, "An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage." And it shall be lawful to pay to the collector of the district within which such ship or vessel may arrive as aforesaid, the duties imposed by law on the tonnage of such ship or vessel, at any time within three days from the time at which the master or other person having the charge or command of such ship or vessel, is required to make his final report as aforesaid, any thing to the contrary in any former law notwithstanding: Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to repeal, or in any wise change the provisions, restrictions or limitations of any former act or acts, excepting so far as the same shall be repugnant to the provisions of this act.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the power vested in the secretary of the treasury, to remove disabilities incurred under the act to which this is a supplement, and under the act, entitled, "An act for enrolling and licensing ships or vessels, to be employed in the coasting trade and fisheries, and for regulating the same," shall extend to the remission of any foreign duties, which shall have been or shall be incurred by reason of such disabilities.

[This act passed March second, 1803.]

An act to amend the act, entitled "An act concerning the registering and recording of ships and vessels.'

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America, in Congress assembled, That no ship or vessel shall be entitled to be registered as a ship or vessel of the United States, or if registered, to the benefits thereof, if owned in whole or in part by any person naturalized in the United States, and residing for more than one year in the country from which he originated, or for more than two years in any foreign country, unless such person be in the capacity of a consul or other public agent of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the registering anew of any ship or vessel before registered, in case of a bona fide sale thereof to any citizen or citizens resident in the United States: And provided also, That satisfactory proof of the citizen

ship of the person on whose account a vessel may be purchased, shall be first exhibited to the collector, before a new register shall be granted for such vessel.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the proviso in the act, entitled "An act in addition to an act, entitled "An act concerning the registering and recording of ships and vessels," passed the twenty-seventh of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, shall be taken and deemed to extend to the executors or administrators of the owner or owners of vessels, in the said proviso described.

[This act passed March twenty-seven, 1804.]

No. XII.

An Act for the Government and Regulation of Seamen in the Merchants' Service.

BE

Sec 1. E it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That from and after the first day of December next, every master or commander of any ship or vessel bound from a port in the United States to any foreign port, or of any ship or vessel of the burthen of fifty tons or upwards, bound from a port in one State to a port in any other than an adjoining State, shall, before he proceed on such voyage, make an agreement in writing or in print, with every seaman or mariner on board such ship or vessel (except such as shall be apprentice or servant to himself or owners) declaring the voyage or voyages, term or terms of time, for which such seaman or mariner shall be shipped. And if any master or commander of such ship or vessel shall carry out any seaman or mariner (except apprentices or servants as aforesaid) without such contract or agreement being first made and signed by the seamen and mariners, such master or commander shall pay to every such seaman or mariner the highest price or wages which shall have been given at the port or place where such seaman or mariner shall have been shipped, for a similar voyage, within three months next before the time of such shipping: Provided such seaman or mariner shall perform such voyage or if not, then for such time as he shall continue to do duty on board such ship or vessel; and shall moreover forfeit twenty dollars for every such seaman or mariner, one half to the use of the person prosecuting for the same, the other half to the use of the United States: and such seaman or mariner,

not having signed such contract, shall not be bound by the regulations, nor subject to the penalties and forfeitures contained in this act.

Sec. 2. And be it enacted, That at the foot of every such contract, there shall be a memorandum in writing, of the day and the hour on which such seaman or mariner, who shall so ship and subscribe, shall render themselves on board, to begin the voyage agreed upon. And if any such seaman or mariner shall neglect to render himself on board the ship or vessel, for which he has shipped, at the time mentioned in such memorandum, and if the master, commander, or other officer of the ship or vessel, shall on the day on which such neglect happened, make an entry in the log-book of such ship or vessel, of the name of such seaman or mariner, and shall in like manner note the time that he so neglected to render himself (after the time appointed); every such seaman or mariner shall forfeit for every hour which he shall so neglect to render himself, one day's pay, according to the rate of wages agreed upon, to be deducted out of his wages. And if any such seaman or mariner shall wholly neglect to render himself on board of such ship or vessel, or having rendered himself on board, shall afterwards desert and escape, so that the ship or vessel proceed to sea without him, every such seaman or mariner shall forfeit and pay to the master, owner or consignee of the said ship or vessel, a sum equal to that which shall have been paid to him by advance at the time of signing the contract, over and besides the sum so advanced, both which sums shall be recoverable in any court, or before any justice or justices of any State, city, town or county within the United States, which, by the laws thereof, have cognizance of debts of equal value, against such seaman or mariner, or his surety or sureties, in case he shall have given surety to proceed the

voyage.

Sec. 3. And be it enacted, That if the mate or first officer under the master, and a majority of the crew of any ship or yessel, bound on a voyage to any foreign port, shall, after the voyage is begun (and before the ship or vessel shall have left the land) discover that the said ship or vessel is too leaky, or is otherwise unfit in her crew, body, tackle, apparel, furniture, provisions or stores, to proceed on the intended voyage, and shall require such unfitness to be inquired into, the master or commander shall upon the request of said mate (or other officer) and such majority, forthwith proceed to or stop at the nearest or most convenient port or place where such enquiry can be made, and shall there apply to the judge of the district court, if he shall there reside, or if not, to some justice of the peace of