Statute Ⅰ.
Chap. XI.—An Act for Registering and Clearing Vessels, Regulating the Coasting Trade, and for other purposes.[1]
What ships or vessels may be registered. Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any ship or vessel built within the United States, and belonging wholly to a citizen or citizens thereof, or not built within the said States, but on the sixteenth day of May, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, belonging, and thereafter continuing to belong wholly to a citizen or citizens thereof, and of which the master is a citizen of the United States, and no other, may be registered in manner hereinafter provided, and being so registered, shall be deemed and taken to be, and denominated, a ship or vessel of the United States, and entitled to the benefits granted by any law of the United States, to ships or vessels of the descriptions aforesaid.
Persons registering to obtain a certificate. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person or persons claiming property in any such ship or vessel, in order to entitle her to the benefits aforesaid, shall cause the same to be registered, and shall obtain a certificate of such registry from the collector of the district to which such ship or vessel belongs, in manner hereinafter directed, which certificate, attested by the Secretary of the Treasury, under his hand and seal, and countersigned by the collector, shall be in the form following, viz:
Form of the certificate. “In pursuance of an act of the Congress of the United States of America, intituled An act for registering and clearing vessels, regulating the coasting trade, and for other purposes, [here insert the name, occupation and residence of the subscribing owner] having taken and subscribed the oath or affirmation required by the said act, and having sworn or affirmed, that he, together with [names, occupation and residence of non-subscribing owners] is (or are) sole owner (or owners) of the ship (or vessel) called the [ship’s name] of [place to which the ship or vessel belongs] whereof [master’s name] is at present master, and is a citizen of the United States, and that the said ship (or vessel) was [when and where built] and [name of surveying officer] having certified to us, that the said ship, or vessel, has [number of decks] and masts, that her length is , her breadth , her depth , and that she measures tons, that she is [here describe the vessel and how built], has gallery and head; and the said subscribing owners having consented and agreed to the above description and measurement, and having caused sufficient security to be given as is required by the said act, the said [kind of vessel and name] has been duly registered at the port of Given under our hands and seals of office, at [port] this day of , in the year [words at full length.] And the collector shall transmit to the Secretary of the Treasury a duplicate of every such certificate so granted. And it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to transmit to the collectors of the several ports of the United States, a sufficient number of certificates attested under his hand and seal, leaving the blanks to be filled up by the collectors respectively.
Rule for ascertaining the tonnage of ships or vessels.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That to ascertain the tonnage of all ships or vessels, the surveyor or other person appointed by the collector to measure the same, shall take the length of every vessel, if double decked, from the fore part of the main stem to the after part of the stern post above the upper deck, the breadth at the broadest part above the main wales, and half such breadth shall be accounted the depth of every double decked vessel; he shall then deduct from the- ↑ This act was “explained and amended” by an act passed September 29, 1789; and was, by the 30th section of the act of December 31, 1792, repealed.
