Forfeitures and penalties on vessels departing without a permit.depart from any port of the United States without a clearance or permit, or if any ship or vessel shall, contrary to the provisions of this act, or of the act to which this act is a supplement, proceed to a foreign port or place, or trade with or put on board of any other ship or vessel any goods, wares or merchandise, of foreign or domestic growth or manufacture, such ships or vessels, goods, wares and merchandise shall be wholly forfeited,If vessel shall not be seized the owner of the vessel shall be liable for a sum equal to double the value of the ship, vessel and cargo, and master of such vessel subjected to a penalty. and if the same shall not be seized, the owner or owners, agent, freighter or factors of any such ship or vessel shall for every such offence forfeit and pay a sum equal to double the value of the ship or vessel and cargo, and shall never thereafter be allowed a credit for duties on any goods, wares or merchandise imported by him or them into any of the ports of the United States, and the master or commander of such ship or vessel, as well as all other persons who shall knowingly be concerned in such prohibited foreign voyage, shall each respectively forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding twenty thousand, nor less than one thousand dollars, for every such offence, whether the vessel be seized and condemned or not, and the oath or affirmation of any master or commander knowingly offending against the provisions of this section, shall ever thereafter be inadmissible before any collector of the customs of the United States.
Provision in a former to extend only to public armed vessels, and shall not embrace privateers.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the exception made by the act to which this is a supplement, in favour of armed vessels possessing public commissions from foreign powers, shall apply only to public armed vessels, and shall not be construed to embrace either privateers, vessels having letters of marque, or any other private armed vessels; but such private armed vessels shall be permitted to depart in the same manner, and on the same conditions as is provided for other private foreign ships or vessels.
Foreign vessels prohibited from shipping specie, merchandise, &c. &c.
Penalties.
Specie may be seized and condemned.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That if any foreign ship or vessel shall, during the continuance of the act to which this act is a supplement, take on board any specie or any goods, wares, or merchandise, other than the provisions and sea stores necessary for the voyage, such ship or vessel and the specie and cargo on board shall be wholly forfeited, and may be seized and condemned in any court of the United States, having competent jurisdiction, and every person concerned in such unlawful shipment shall forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding twenty thousand dollars, nor less than one thousand dollars for every such offence.
Distribution of forfeitures, penalties, &c.
Act of March 2, 1799, ch. 22.
Act of March 3, 1797, ch. 13.
Act of Feb. 11, 1800, ch. 6.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That all penalties and forfeitures incurred by force of this act shall be sued for, recovered, distributed, and accounted for in the manner prescribed, by the act, intituled “An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage,” passed the second day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, and may be mitigated or remitted in the manner prescribed by the act, intituled “An act to provide for mitigating or remitting the forfeitures, penalties and disabilities, accruing in certain cases therein mentioned,” passed the third day of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, and made perpetual by an act passed the eleventh of February one thousand eight hundred.
Drawbacks not to be affected by this act.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the time during which the act to which this is a supplement, shall continue in force, shall not be computed as making part of the term of twelve calendar months during which goods, wares or merchandise, imported into the United States, must be re-exported in order to be entitled to a drawback of the duties paid on the importation thereof.
Approved, January 9, 1808.