LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, SIR: The edition of the Navigation Laws for 1923 has been prepared in substantially the same form as the former editions, as these proved to be convenient for the use of collectors of customs, shipping commissioners, the masters, owners, and agents of vessels, seamen, and others directly interested in vessels, their officers, crews, passengers, and cargo. Effort has been made to include in this volume only laws actually in force. Where sections of the Revised Statutes or other laws have been specifically repealed or amended by subsequent legislation the repealed portions of the law are omitted, and the present, not the original, reading of amended sections is adopted. The effort has been made to confine the law included in this volume to the law relating to vessels, with which owners, masters, and agents should be acquainted. The line between this law and the customs law is not always clearly defined. The laws directly relating to duties on imports and to invoices are omitted, while those relating to entry, clearance, manifests, and transportation by water are included in this volume. The scheme of arrangement will appear from the table of contents. The law has been divided into large divisions by subjects, called parts, while these parts have been subdivided into headed paragraphs. For further convenience of reference a table of laws is published, giving the sections of the Revised Statutes and subsequent laws which have been included in this compilation, the date of enactment and amendment, together with the page of this compilation on which they may be found. The table of laws may be found at the end of the volume, together with the usual alphabetical index. Parenthetical references in italics at the conclusion of paragraphs give the number of section of the Revised Statutes included in each paragraph, or the date and section of the act, if enacted subsequent to the Revised Statutes, with the date of amendatory acts which have been incorporated, if practicable, in the paragraph. Where reference is made in a paragraph to a title or chapter of the Revised Statutes the numbers of the sections comprised in such title or chapter have been printed in brackets. Reference to the table of laws, at the end of the volume, will show which of those sections have been included in this volume as pertinent or in force, and will also show the page where they may be found. Fees, payable by the masters and owners of vessels of the United States, were in most instances abolished in 1886 and 1890, and accordingly the statutes imposing such fees are not retained in this compilation, though they furnish a basis on which officers are compensated from the Treasury for services. The shipping act of 1916 and the merchant marine act of 1920 have been included intact as amended, with notations under the various subject heads which are repealed or amended by these acts. The administrative provisions of the tariff act of 1922 which affect the navigation laws also have been segregated. To Hon. HERBERT HOOVER, Secretary of Commerce. D. B. CARSON, Commissioner. The word "vessel" includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water. (R. S. 3.) Vessels of the United States. Vessels registered pursuant to law and no others, except such as shall be duly qualified according to law for carrying on the coasting or fishing trade, shall be deemed vessels of the United States and entitled to the benefits and privileges appertaining to such vessels; but no such vessel shall enjoy such benefits and privileges longer than it shall continue to be wholly owned by a citizen or citizens of the United States or a corporation created under the laws of any of the States thereof, and be commanded by a citizen of the United States. And all the officers of vessels of the United States who shall have charge of a watch, including pilots, shall in all cases be citizens of the United States. [See also qualifications of officers, page 37.] (R. S. 4131; May 28, 1896.) Registered Vessels. Vessels built within the United States and belonging wholly to citizens thereof; and vessels which may be captured in war by citizens of the United States and lawfully condemned as prize, or which may be adjudged to be forfeited for a breach of the laws of the United States; and seagoing vessels, whether steam or sail, which have been certified by the Steamboat Inspection Service as safe to carry dry and perishable cargo, wherever built, which are to engage only in trade with foreign countries or with the Philippine Islands and the islands of Guam and Tutuila, being wholly owned by citizens of the United States or corporations organized and chartered under the laws of the United States or of any State thereof, the president and managing directors of which shall be citizens of the United States, and no others, may be registered as directed in this title. Foreign-built vessels registered pursuant to this Act shall not engage in the coastwise trade: Provided, That a foreign-built yacht, pleasure boat, or vessel not used or intended to be used for trade admitted to American registry pursuant to this section shall be exempt from the collection of ad valorem duty provided in section thirtyseven of the Act approved August fifth, nineteen hundred and nine, entitled "An Act to provide revenue, equalize duties, and encourage the industries of the United States, and for other purposes." * * Provided further, That such vessels so admitted under the provisions of this section may contract with the Postmaster General under the Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An Act to provide for ocean mail service between the United States and foreign ports, and to promote commerce," so long as such vessels shall in all respects comply with the provisions and requirements of said Act. (R. S. 4132; Aug. 24, 1912, sec. 5; Aug. 18, 1914; Oct. 3, 1913, Sec. IV, S. repeals sec. 37.) Provisional Certificates of Registry. 1 Consular officers of the United States and such other persons 1 as may from time to time be designated by the President for the purpose are hereby authorized to issue provisional certificates of registry to vessels abroad which have been purchased by citizens of the United States, including corporations, as defined in section forty-one hundred and thirty-two, Revised Statutes, as amended by the Panama Canal Act and the Act of August eighteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen. (a) Such a provisional certificate shall entitle the vessel to the privileges of a vessel of the United States in trade with foreign countries or with the Philippine Islands and the islands of Guam and Tutuila until the expiration of six months from its date or until ten days after the vessel's arrival at a port of the United States, whichever first happens, and no longer. On arrival at a port of the United States the vessel shall become subject to the laws relating to officers, inspection, and measurement, as amended by the Act of August eighteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen. (b) The Secretary of Commerce shall prescribe the conditions in accordance with which such provisional certificates shall be issued and the manner in which they shall be surrendered in exchange for certificates of registry at ports of the United States. (c) The form of such provisional certificate shall be prescribed by the Commissioner of Navigation and shall include the name of the ship and of the master, time and place of purchase and names of purchasers, and the best particulars respecting her tonnage, build, description, and inspection or survey which the consular officer is able to obtain. (d) Copies of such provisional certificates shall be forwarded as soon as practicable by the issuing officer to the Commissioner of Navigation. (Mar. 4, 1915.) Repeal of Penalties. So much of sections forty-two hundred and nineteen and forty-two hundred and twenty-five of the Revised Statutes as imposes tonnage 1 The collector of customs of the Philippine Islands, the captains of the ports of Cristobal and Balboa, Canal Zone, and the governor of Guam were designated by Executive Order of April 7, 1915. duties of 50 cents per ton and light money of 50 cents per ton on a vessel owned by citizens of the United States but not a vessel of the United States; so much of section four J, subsection one, of the Act of October third, nineteen hundred and thirteen, entitled "An Act to reduce tariff duties and to provide revenue for the Government, and for other purposes," as imposes a discriminating duty of ten per centum ad valorem on all goods, wares, or merchandise imported in a vessel owned by citizens of the United States but not a vessel of the United States; and so much of section four J, subsection two, of the Act aforesaid as provides for the forfeiture of any vessel owned by citizens of the United States but not a vessel of the United States, together with her cargo, tackle, apparel, and furniture, are hereby repealed. Any such tonnage duties, light money, or discriminating duties collected since the passage of the Act of August eighteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, shall be refunded, and any such forfeitures incurred are hereby remitted: Provided, however, That the provisions of this Act shall apply only in case that any vessel of the character above described after entering an American port shall, before leaving the same, be registered as a vessel of the United States. (Mar. 4, 1915.) Repaired Wrecks. The Secretary of Commerce may issue a register or enrollment for any vessel wrecked on the coasts of the United States or her possessions or adjacent waters, when purchased by a citizen or citizens of the United States and thereupon repaired in a shipyard in the United States or her possessions, if it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Commerce, if he deems it necessary, through a board of three appraisers appointed by him, that the said repairs put upon such vessels are equal to three times the appraised salved value of the vessel: Provided, That the expense of the appraisal herein provided for shall be borne by the owner of the vessel: Provided further, That if any of the material matters of fact sworn to or represented by the owner, or at his instance, to obtain the register of any vessel are not true, there shall be forfeiture to the United States of the vessel in respect to which the oath shall have been made, together with tackle, apparel, and furniture thereof. (R. S. 4136; Feb. 24, 1915.) Prohibitions. No vessel which has been recorded or registered as an American vessel of the United States, pursuant to law, and which was licensed or otherwise authorized to sail under a foreign flag, and to have the protection of any foreign government during the existence of the rebellion, shall be deemed or registered as a vessel of the United States, or shall have the rights and privileges of vessels of the United States, except under provisions of law especially authorizing such registry. (R. S. 4135.) Whaling Vesssels. All vessels which may clear with registers for the purpose of engaging in the whale fishery shall be deemed to have lawful and sufficient papers for such voyages, securing the privileges and rights |