(ACT of May 3d, 1802.)

ted States for that purpose, and also, subject to the like general instructions, to direct and govern such hospitals, as the president may direct to be built in the respective ports: and that the said directors shall hold their offices during the pleasure of the president, who is authorised to fill up all vacancies that may be occasioned by the death or removal of any of the persons so to be appointed. And the said directors shall render an account of the moneys received and expended by them, once in every quarter of a year, to the secretary of the treasury, or such other person as the president shall direct; but no other allowance or compensation shall be made to the said directors, except the payment of such expenses as they may incur in the actual discharge of the duties required by this act.

ACT of March 2, 1799. 3 Bioren, 266.

An act in addition to " An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen." 13. SEC. I. The president of the United States shall be, and he hereby is, authorised to direct the expenditure of any moneys which have been, or shall be, collected by virtue of an act, enti. tled "An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen," to be made within the state wherein the same shall have been collected, or within the state next adjoining thereto, excepting what may be collected in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; any thing in the said act contained, to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.

SECS. 11. and III. [See NAVY, 8.]

ACT of March 2, 1799. 3 Bioren, 269.

14. SEC. 11. The secretary of state shall be, and hereby is, required to lay before congress, within ten days after the commencement of each ordinary session, an annual statement, containing an abstract of all the returns made to him, by the collectors of the different ports, pursuant to the said act, and of the communications received by him from the agents, employed by virtue of the same, in foreign countries.

ACT of May 3, 1802. 3 Bioren, 518.

An act to amend an act, entitled "An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen," and for other purposes.

15. SEC. 1. The moneys heretofore collected in pursuance of the several acts "for the relief of sick and disabled seamen," and at present unexpended, together with the moneys hereafter to be collected by authority of the beforementioned acts, shall constitute a general fund, which the president of the United States shall use and employ, as circumstances shall require, for the benefit and convenience of sick and disabled American seamen: Provided, That the sum of fifteen thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated for the erection of an hospital in the district of Massachusetts.

SEC. II. It shall be lawful for the president of the United States to cause such measures to be be taken as, in his opinion, may be

(ACT of May 3d, 1802.)

expedient for providing convenient accommodations, medical assistance, necessary attendance, and supplies, for the relief of sick or disabled seamen of the United States, who may be at or near the port of New Orleans, in case the same can be done with the assent of the government having jurisdiction over the port; and for this purpose, to establish such regulations, and to authorise the employment of such persons, as he may judge proper; and that, for defraying the expense thereof, a sum, not exceeding three thousand dollars, be paid out of any moneys arising from the said fund, not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. II. From and after the thirtieth day of June next, the master of every boat, raft, or flat, belonging to any citizen of the United States, which shall go down the Mississippi, with intention to proceed to New Orleans, shall, on his arrival at fort Adams, render to the collector or naval officer thereof, a true account of the number of persons employed on board such boat, raft, or flat, and the time that each person has been so employed, and shall pay, to the said collector or naval officer, at the rate of twenty cents per month, for every person so employed; which sum he is hereby authorised to retain out of the wages of such person: and the said collector or naval officer shall not give a clearance for such boat, raft, or flat, to proceed on her voyage to New Orleans, until an account be rendered to him of the number of persons employed on board such boat, raft, or flat, and the money paid to him by the master or owner thereof: and if any such master shall render a false account of the number of persons, and the length of time they have severally been employed, as is herein required, he shall forfeit and pay fifty dollars, which shall be applied to, and shall make a part of, the said general fund, for the purposes of this act: Provided, That all persons employed in navigating any such boat, raft, or flat, shall be considered as seamen of the United States, and entitled to the relief extended by law to sick and disabled sea

men.

SEC. IV. The president of the United States is hereby, authorised to nominate and appoint, for the port of New Orleans, a fit person to be director of the marine hospital of the United States, whose duties shall be, in all instances, the same as the directors of the marine hospitals of the United States, as directed and required by the act, entitled "An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen."

SEC. v. Each and every director of the marine hospitals within the United States, shall, if it can with convenience be done, admit into the hospital of which he is director, sick foreign seamen, on the application of the master or commander of any foreign vessel to which such sick seaman may belong; and each seaman so admitted shall be subject to a charge of seventy-five cents per day for each day he may remain in the hospital, the payment of which the master or commander of such foreign vessel shall make to the collector of the district in which such hospital is situated: and the

(ACT of February 28th, 1803.)

collector shall not grant a clearance to any foreign vessel, until the money due from such master or commander, in manner and form aforesaid, shall be paid; and the director of each hospital is hereby directed, under the penalty of fifty dollars, to make out the accounts against each foreign seaman that may be placed in the hospital, under his direction, and render the same to the collector.

SEC. VI. The collectors shall pay the money collected by virtue of this and the act to which this is an amendment, into the treasury of the United States, and be accountable therefor, and receive the same commission thereon, as for other money by them collected.

SEC. VII. Each and every director of the marine hospitals shall be accountable, at the treasury of the United States, for the money by them received, in the same manner as other receivers of public money, and for the sums by them expended shall be allowed a commission at the rate of one per cent.

ACT of February 28, 1803. 3 Bioren, 526.

An act supplementary to the "Act concerning consuls and vice consuls," and for the further protection of American seamen.

16. SEC. I. Before a clearance be granted to any vessel bound on a foreign voyage, the master thereof shall deliver to the collector of the customs a list, containing the names, places of birth, and residence, and a description of the persons who compose his ship's company, to which list the oath or affirmation of the captain shall be annexed, that the said list contains the names of his crew, together with the places of their birth and residence, as far as he can ascertain them, and the said collector shall deliver him a cer tified copy thereof, for which the collector shall be entitled to receive the sum of twenty-five cents; and the said master shall, moreover, enter into bond with sufficient security, in the sum of four hundred dollars, that he shall exhibit the aforesaid certified copy of the list to the first boarding officer, at the first port in the United States at which he shall arrive, on his return thereto, and then and there also produce the persons named therein, to the said boarding officer, whose duty it shall be to examine the men with such list, and to report the same to the collector; and it shall be the duty of the collector at the said port of arrival, (where the same is different from the port from which the vessel originally sailed,) to transinit a copy of the list so reported to him, to the collector of the port from which said vessel originally sailed: Provided, That the said bond shall not be forfeited on account of the said master not producing to the first boarding officer, as aforesaid, any of the persons contained in the said list, who may be discharged in a foreign country, with the consent of the consul, vice consul, commercial agent, or vice commercial agent, there residing, signified in writing, under his hand and official seal, to be produced to the collector with the other persons composing the crew, as aforesaid; nor on account of any such person dying

(ACT of March 3d, 1813.)

or absconding, or being forcibly impressed into other service, of which satisfactory proof shall be then also exhibited to the collector.

17. SEC. 1. &c. [See title CONSULS 7, &c. ante page, 146.]

ACT of March 2, 1805. 3 Bioren, 657.

18. SEC. 1. All the provisions, regulations, and penalties, which are contained in the eighth section of the act, entitled “An act for the government and regulation of seamen in the merchant's service," so far as relates to a chest of medicines to be provided for vessels of one hundred and fifty tons burthen, and upwards, shall be extended to all merchant vessels of the burthen of seventy-five tons, or upwards, navigated with six persons, or more, in the whole, and bound from the United States to any port or ports in the West Indies.

ACT of February 28, 1811. 4 Bioren, 339.

19. SEC. I. In all cases where distressed mariners and seamen of the United States have been transported from foreign ports where there was no consul, vice consul, commercial agent, or vice commercial agent, of the United States, to ports of the United States; and in all cases where they shall hereafter be so transported, there shall be allowed to the master or owner of each vessel in which they shall or may have been transported, such reasonable compensation, in addition to the allowance now fixed by law, as shall be deemed equitable by the comptroller of the treasury. ACT of March 3, 1813. 4 Bioren, 512.

An act for the regulation of seamen on board the public and private vessels of the United States.

20. SEC. 1. From and after the termination of the war in which the United States are now engaged with Great Britain, it shall not be lawful to employ on board any of the public or private vessels of the United States, any person or persons, except citizens of the United States, or persons of color, natives of the United States.

SEC. II. From and after the time when this act shall take effect, it shall not be lawful to employ as aforesaid any naturalised citizen of the United States, unless such citizen shall produce to the commander of the public vessel, if to be employed on board such vessel, or to a collector of the customs, a certified copy of the act by which he shall have been naturalised, setting forth such naturalization, and the time thereof.

SEC. III. In all cases of private vessels of the United States sailing from a port in the United States to a foreign port, the list of the crew, made as heretofore directed by law, shall be examined by the collector for the district from which the vessel shall clear out, and, if approved of by him, shall be certified accordingly. And no person shall be admitted or employed as aforesaid, on board of any vessel aforesaid, unless his name shall have been entered in the list of the crew, approved and certified by the col

(ACT of March 3d, 1813.)

lector for the district from which the vessel shall clear out as aforesaid. And the said collector, before he delivers the list of the crew, approved and certified as aforesaid, to the captain, master, or proper officer, of the vessel to which the same belongs, shall cause the same to be recorded in a book, by him for that purpose to be provided; and the said record shall be open for the inspection of all persons, and a certified copy thereof shall be admitted in evidence, in any court in which any question may arise, under any of the provisions of this act.

SEC. IV. The president of the United States hereby is, authorised, from time to time, to make such further regulations, and to give such directions to the several commanders of public vessels, and to the several collectors, as may be proper and necessary, respecting the proofs of citizenship, to be exhibited to the commanders or collectors aforesaid: Provided, That nothing contained in such regulations or directions shall be repugnant to any of the provisions of this act.

SEC. V. From and after the time when this act shall take effect, no seaman or other seafaring man, not being a citizen of the United States, shall be admitted or received as a passenger on board of any public or private vessel of the United States, in a foreign port, without permission, in writing, from the proper officers of the country of which such seaman or seafaring man may be subject or citizen.

SEC. Vt. From and after the time when this act shall take effect, the consuls or commercial agents of any nation at peace with the United States shall be admitted, (under such regulations as may be prescribed by the president of the United States,) to state their objections to the proper commander or collector as aforesaid, against the employment of any seaman or seafaring man on board of any public or private vessel of the United States, on account of his being a native subject or citizen of such nation, and not embraced within the description of persons who may be lawfully employed, according to the provisions of this act; and the said consuls or commercial agents shall also be admitted, under the said regulations, to be present at the time when the proofs of citizenship, of the persons against whom such objections may have been made, shall be investigated by such commander or collector.

SEC. VII. If any commander of a public vessel of the United States shall knowingly employ, or permit to be employed, or shall admit or receive, or permit to be admitted or received, on board his vessel, any person whose employment or admission is prohibited by the provisions of this act, he shall, on conviction thereof, forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand dollars for each person thus unlawfully employed or admitted on board such vessel.

SEC. VIII. If any person shall, contrary to the prohibitions of this act, he employed or be received on board of any private ves sel, the master or commander, and the owner or owners of such vessel, knowing thereof, shall respectively, forfeit and pay five