(ACT of April 16th, 1816.)

ships of the United States, which shall be sold under the order of the proper prize court, by interlocutory or final decree, it shall be the duty of the marshal of the United States, making the sale, to pay the proceeds thereof into the registry of the proper court, within thirty days after such sale shall be made and closed, and immediately upon the payment into the registry of the proceeds as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the court to deposit the same in some bank to be designated by the judge or judges of the court, subject to the order and distribution of the court as in other cases, and when the said prizes shall have been duly condemned, it shall be the duty of the court to direct the share of such prizes belonging to the United States, to be forthwith carried in the account with such bank, to the credit of the treasurer of the United States, on account of the navy pension fund, and copies of the certificate of such deposit and credit shall be thereupon transmitted to the treasurer of the United States and to the secre tary of the navy, as soon as may be, by the clerk of such court; and the share of such prizes belonging to the captors, deposited as aforesaid, shall be paid over to the parties entitled, or to their authorised agent or agents, upon the order of the proper court in term, or of the judge or judges of such court in vacation.

SEC. II. It shall be the duty of the marshals of the several districts of the United States, and of the clerks of the respective courts of the United States, to state and settle their respective accounts in all cases of prizes captured as aforesaid, specifying therein all costs and charges taxed, claimed and paid by them, and to submit the same to the proper court, having cognizance thereof, for examination and allowance, within sixty days after a final adjudication of such causes, unless a different time shall be assigned by such court; and thereupon such courts in term, or any judge thereof in vacation may proceed summarily to hear, examine, and allow the same accounts, and, after such allowance, one copy of the same accounts shall be filed among the records of the court, and another copy shall be transmitted by the clerk of the court to the secretary of the navy, within thirty days after the allowance thereof.

SEC. II. It shall be the duty of the district attornies of the respective districts of the United States to transmit to the secretary of the navy a statement of all prizes captured as aforesaid which shall be libelled, condemned, or restored, at each term of the district and circuit courts, within their respective districts, as soon as may be after the conclusion of each term, and to accompany such list with a schedule and invoice of the various articles composing the cargoes of such prizes.

SEC. IV. The respective courts of the United States, before whom a libel against any prizes captured as aforesaid, shall be pending, or by whom a decree of condemnation and distribution of such prizes shall have been awarded, shall have full power and

(ACT of April 29th, 1816.)

authority, in the exercise of their admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, to issue a monition and other proper process to compel the marshal and clerk to perform, and obey the requisitions of this act; and upon the complaint of the United States or any person interested in the premises, summarily to hear and examine the same, and to make such award, order and decree therein, as to justice and law shall appertain. And if the marshal or clerk shall wilfully refuse, or unreasonably neglect to perform and obey any of the requisitions of this act, the party so refusing or neglecting shall further forfeit and pay to the United States the sum of five hundred dollars for every such refusal or neglect.

SEC. VII. In cases where the allowance of the half monthly pay, which may now be granted by law, to officers, seamen, and marines, disabled in the service of the United States, shall, in the opinion of the commissioners of the navy pension fund, from the nature and extent of the disability, and the situation of the party disabled, be inadequate to his necessary subsistence, the said commissioners shall be, and hereby are authorised, in their discretion to increase such allowance, to any sum not exceeding the full amount of the monthly pay to which the party so disabled was by law entitled in the said service.

ACT of April 29, 1816. Pamphlet edit. 117.

An act for the gradual increase of the navy of the United States.

38. SEC. 1. For the gradual increase of the navy of the United States, the sum of one million of dollars per annum, for eight years, is hereby appropriated, including the sum of two hundred thousand dollars per annum, for three years, or the unexpended balance thereof, appropriated by an act approved on the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen, entitled “ An act concerning the naval establishment."

SEC. II. The president of the United States is hereby authorized, to cause to be built nine ships, to rate not less than seventyfour guns each, and twelve ships, to rate not less than forty-four guns each, including one seventy-four and three forty-four gun ships, authorized to be built by an act bearing date on the second day of January, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, entitled "An act to increase the navy of the United States;" and in carrying this act into effect, the president shall be, and he is hereby authorised as soon as the timber and other necessary materials are procured, and the timber properly seasoned, to cause the said ships to be built and equipped; or, if in his judgment, it will more conduce to the public interest, he may cause the said ships to be framed and remain on the stocks, and kept in the best state of preservation, to be prepared for service in the shortest time practicable, when the public exigency may require them.

(ACT of March 1st, 1817.)

SEC. III. For the defence of the ports and harbors of the United States, the president shall be, and he is hereby authorised to cause to be procured the steam engines, and all the imperishable materials necessary for building and equipping three steam batteries, on the most approved plan, and best calculated for the waters in which they are to act: and such materials shall be secured in the best manner, to insure the completing such batteries in the shortest time practicable, when they, or either of them, in the opinion of the president, may be required for the public service; and the president is further authorised to cause to be completed and kept in the best state of preservation, the block ship now on the stocks, near New Orleans.

SEC. IV. The moneys appropriated by this act shall not be transferred to any other object of expenditure, nor shall any part thereof be carried to the fund denominated "the surplus fund."

ACT of March 1, 1817. Pamphlet edit. 207.

An act making reservation of certain public lands to supply timber for naval purposes.

39. SEC. I. The secretary of the navy is authorised, and it shall be his duty, under the direction of the president of the United States, to cause such vacant and unappropriated lands of the United States as produce the live oak and red cedar timbers to be explored, and selection to be made of such tracts or portions thereof, where the principal growth is of either of the said timbers, as in his judgment may be necessary to furnish for the navy a sufficient supply of the said timbers. The said secretary shall have power to employ such agent or agents and surveyor as he may deem necessary for the aforesaid purpose, who shall report to him the tracts by them selected, with the boundaries ascertained and accurately designated by actual survey or water courses, which report shall be laid before the president, which he may approve or reject, in whole or in part; and the tracts of lands thus selected with the approbation of the president, shall be reserved, unless otherwise directed by law, from any future sale of the public lands, and be appropriated to the sole purpose of supplying timber for the navy of the United States: Provided, That nothing in this section contained shall be construed to prejudice the rights of any person or persons claiming lands which may be reserved as aforesaid. [Infra, 45.]

SEC. 11. If any person or persons shall cut any timber on the lands reserved as aforesaid, or shall remove or be employed in removing timber from the same, unless duly authorised so to do, by order of a competent officer, and for the use of the navy of the United States; or if any person or persons shall cut any live oak or red cedar timber on, or remove or be employed in removing from any other public lands of the United States, with intent to

(ACT of March 3d, 1817.)

dispose of the same for transportation to any port or place within the United States, or for exportation to any foreign country, such person or persons so offending and being thereof duly convicted before any court having competent jurisdiction, shall pay a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars and be imprisoned not exceeding six months.

SEC. III. If the master, owner, or consignee, of any ship or vessel, shall knowingly take on board any timber cut on lands reserved as aforesaid, without proper authority and for the use of the navy, or shall take on board any live oak or red cedar timber, cut on any other lands of the United States, with intent to transport the same to any port or place within the United States, or to export the same to any foreign country, the ship or vessel on board of which the same shall be seized, shall, with her tackle, apparel, and furniture, be wholly forfeited.

SEC. IV. If any timber as aforesaid, shall, contrary to the prohibitions of this act, be exported to any foreign country, the ship or vessel in which the same shall have been exported shall be liable to forfeiture, and the captain or master of such ship or vessel shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars.

SEC. v. All penalties and forfeitures incurred for taking on board, transporting, or exporting timber by force of this act, shall be sued for, recovered, and distributed, and accounted for in the manner prescribed by the act, entitled "An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage," and shall be mitigated or remitted in the manner prescribed by the act, entitled “ An act to provide for mitigating or remitting the forfeitures, penalties, and disabilities, accruing in certain cases therein mentioned."

ACT of March 1, 1817. Pamphlet edit, 210.

40. SEC. 1. Every person now in service, or who may hereaf ter be appointed, shall, instead of the bond required by the act to which this is a supplement, [Supra, 27.] enter into bond with two or more sufficient securities, in the penalty of twenty-five thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful discharge of all his duties as purser in the navy of the United States, which said sureties shall be approved by the judge or attorney of the United States, for the district in which such purser shall reside.

SEC. 11. From and after the first day of May next, no person shall act in the character of purser, who shall not enter into bond as aforesaid, excepting pursers on distant service, who shall not remain in service longer than two months after their return to the United States, unless they shall comply with the provisions of the first section of this act.

ACT of March 3, 1817. Pamphlet edit. 244.

41. SEC. I. If any officer, seaman, or marine, belonging to the navy of the United States, shall die, or shall have died, since the

(ACT of March 3d, 1819.)

eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twelve, in consequence of disease contracted, or of casualties or injuries received, while in the line of his duty, and which shall be satisfactorily proved to the commissioners of the navy pension fund, leaving a widow, or if no widow, a child, or children under sixteen years of age, such widow, or if no widow, such child or children, shall be entitled to receive half the monthly pay to which the deceased was entitled at the time of his death, which allowance shall continue for the term of five years; but in case of the death, or intermarriage of such widow, before the expiration of the said term of five years, the half pay for the remainder of the term shall go to the child or children of the deceased: Provided, That such half pay shall cease on the death of such child or children. And the money required for this purpose shall be paid out of the navy pension fund, under the direction of the commissioners of that fund.

ACT of April 16, 1818. Pamphlet edit. 90.

SEC. 1. In every case where a person has been put on the pension list, or granted a certificate of pension by virtue of the first section of an act passed the fourth day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, entitled "An act giving pensions to the orphans and widows of persons slain in the public or private armed vessels of the United States," [Supra, 32.] the secretary of the navy is hereby authorised, at the expiration of the term of five years, for which any pension certificate shall have been granted as aforesaid, to allow the full monthly pension to which the rank of the deceased would have entitled him for the highest rate of disability; and that such pension shall continue to such person for the further term of five years: Provided, That such pension shall cease on the death of such widow, child, or children.

SEC. 11. If any officer, seaman, or marine, shall have died since the eighteenth day of June, in the year eighteen hundred and twelve, in consequence of an accident or casualty, which occurred while in the line of his duty on board a public or private armed vessel, leaving a widow, or, if no widow, a child or children under sixteen years of age, the secretary of the navy is hereby authorised, to place such widow, child, or children on the pension list, and allow to such widow, child, or children the same monthly pension as if the deceased had died by reason of wounds received in the line of his duty: Provided, That all moneys paid by virtue of this act, be paid out of the privateer pension fund and no other.

ACT of March 3, 1819. Pamphlet edit. 60.

SEC. 1. In all cases where provision has been made by law for five years half pay to the widows and children of officers, seamen,