CHAPTER VI

MISCELLANEOUS LAWS

Rescuing shipwrecked American seamen.

Expenses which may be incurred in the acknowledgment of the services of masters and crews of foreign vessels in rescuing American seamen or citizens from shipwreck, four thousand five hundred dollars. (June 30, 1914.)

School ships.

The Secretary of the Navy, to promote nautical education, is hereby authorized and empowered to furnish, upon the application in writing of the governor of a State, a suitable vessel of the navy, with all her apparel, charts, books, and instruments of navigation, provided the same can be spared without detriment to the naval service, to be used for the benefit of any nautical school, or school or college having a nautical branch, established at each of the following ports of the United States: Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit, Saginaw, Michigan, Norfolk, and Corpus Christi, upon the condition that there shall be maintained at such port a school or branch of a school for the instruction of youths in navigation, steamship-marine engineering, and all matters pertaining to the proper construction, equipment, and sailing of vessels or any particular branch thereof. (Sec. 1.)

A sum not exceeding the amount annually appropriated by any State or municipality for the purpose of maintaining such a marine school or schools or the nautical branch thereof is hereby authorized to be appropriated for the purpose of aiding in the maintenance and support of such school or schools: Provided, however, That appropriations shall be made for one school in any port heretofore named in section one and that the appropriation for any one year shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars for any one school. (Sec. 2.)

The President of the United States is hereby authorized, when in his opinion the same can be done without detriment to the public service, to detail proper officers of the navy as superintendents of or instructors in such schools: Provided, That if any such school shall be discontinued, or the good of the naval service shall require, such vessel shall be immediately restored to the Secretary of the Navy and the officers so detailed recalled: And provided further, That no person shall be sentenced to or received at such schools as a punishment or commutation of punishment for crime. (June 20, 1874; Mar. 3, 1881; Mar. 4, 1911; sec. 3.)

Navy ration.

The navy rations shall consist of the following daily allowance of provisions to each person: One pound and a quarter of salt or smoked meat, with three ounces of dried or six ounces of canned or preserved fruit, and three gills of beans or peas, or twelve ounces of flour; or one pound of preserved meat, with three ounces of dried or six ounces of canned or preserved fruit and eight ounces of rice or twelve ounces of canned vegetables, or six ounces of desiccated vegetables; together with one pound of biscuit, two ounces of butter, four ounces of sugar, two ounces of coffee or cocoa, or one-half ounce of tea and one ounce of condensed milk or evaporated cream; and a weekly allowance of one-quarter pound of macaroni, four ounces of cheese, four ounces of tomatoes, one-half pint of vinegar or sauce, one-quarter pint of pickles, one-quarter pint of molasses, four ounces of salt, one-half ounce of pepper, one-eighth ounce of spices, and onehalf ounce of dry mustard. Seven pounds of lard, or a suitable substitute, shall be allowed for every hundred pounds of flour issued as bread, and such quantities of yeast and flavoring extracts as may be necessary. (R. S., 1580; July 1, 1902; June 29, 1906.)

The following substitution for the components of the ration may be made when deemed necessary by the senior officer present in command: For one and one-quarter pounds of salt or smoked meat or one pound of preserved meat, one and three-quarter pounds of fresh meat or fresh fish, or eight eggs; in lieu of the articles usually issued with salt, smoked or preserved meat, one and three-quarter pounds of fresh vegetables; for one pound of biscuit, one and onequarter pounds of soft bread or eighteen ounces of flour; for three gills of beans and peas, twelve ounces of flour or eight ounces of rice

or other starch food, or twelve ounces of canned vegetables; for one pound of condensed milk or evaporated cream, one quart of fresh milk; for three ounces of dried or six ounces of canned or preserved fruit, nine ounces of fresh fruit; and for twelve ounces of flour or eight ounces of rice or other starch food, or twelve ounces of canned vegetables, three gills of beans or peas; in lieu of the weekly allowance of one-quarter pound of macaroni, four ounces of cheese, onehalf pint of vinegar or sauce, one-quarter pint of pickles, one-quarter pint of molasses, and one-eighth ounce of spices, three pounds of sugar, or one and a half pounds of condensed milk, or one pound of coffee, or one and a half pounds of canned fruit, or four pounds of fresh vegetables, or four pounds of flour.

"An extra allowance of one ounce of coffee or cocoa, two ounces of sugar, four ounces of hard bread or its equivalent, and four ounces of preserved meat or its equivalent shall be allowed to enlisted men of the engineer and dynamo force who stand night watches between eight o'clock postmeridian and eight o'clock antemeridian, under steam." (R. S., 1581; July 1, 1902; June 29, 1906.)

Export of arms to American countries.

Whenever the President shall find that in any American country conditions of domestic violence exist which are promoted by the use of arms or munitions of war procured from the United States, and shall make proclamation thereof, it shall be unlawful to export except under such limitations and exceptions as the President shall prescribe any arms or munitions of war from any place in the United States to such country until otherwise ordered by the President or by Congress.

Any shipment of material hereby declared unlawful after such a proclamation shall be punishable by fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both. (Apr. 22, 1898; Mar. 14, 1912; sec. 2.)

Mines, torpedoes, and harbor defenses.

Whoever shall willfully trespass upon, injure, or destroy any of the works or property or material of any submarine mine or torpedo, or fortification or harbor-defense system owned or constructed or in process of construction by the United States, or shall willfully interfere with the operation or use of any such submarine mine, torpedo, fortification, or harbor-defense system, shall be fined not

more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. [See also act Mar. 4, 1909, sec. 272, p. 468.]

4, 1909; sec. 44;

Repeals act July 7, 1898.)

Sale of arms and liquors to Pacific islanders.

(Mar.

Whoever, being subject to the authority of the United States, shall give, sell, or otherwise supply any arms, ammunition, explosive substance, intoxicating liquor, or opium to any aboriginal native of any of the Pacific islands lying within the twentieth parallel of north latitude and the fortieth parallel of south latitude, and the one hundred and twentieth meridian of longitude west and one hundred and twentieth meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, not being in the possession or under the protection of any civilized power, shall be fined not more than fifty dollars, or imprisoned not more than three months, or both. In addition to such punishment, all articles of a similar nature to those in respect to which an offense has been committed, found in the possession of the offender, may be declared forfeited. If it shall appear to the court that such opium, wine, or spirits have been given bona fide for medical purposes, it shall be lawful for the court to dismiss the charge. (Mar. 4, 1909; sec. 308; Repeals act Feb. 14, 1902, secs. 1-2.)

All offenses against the provisions of the section last preceding, committed on any of said islands or on the waters, rocks, or keys adjacent thereto, shall be deemed committed on the high seas on board a merchant ship or vessel belonging to the United States, and the courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction accordingly. (Mar. 4, 1909; sec. 309; Repeals act Feb. 14, 1902, sec. 3.)

Exemption of private property at sea.

It is the sense of the Congress of the United States that it is desirable, in the interest of uniformity of action by the maritime states of the world in time of war, that the President endeavor to bring about an understanding among the principal maritime powers with a view of incorporating into the permanent law of civilized nations the principle of the exemption of all private property at sea, not contraband of war, from capture or destruction by belligerents. (J. Res., Apr. 28, 1904.)

Assistance and salvage at sea.

The right to remuneration for assistance or salvage services shall

not be affected by common ownership of the vessels rendering and receiving such assistance or salvage services. (Sec. 1.)

The master or person in charge of a vessel shall, so far as he can do so without serious danger to his own vessel, crew, or passengers, render assistance to every person who is found at sea in danger of being lost; and if he fails to do so, he shall, upon conviction, be liable to a penalty of not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both. (Sec. 2.)

Salvors of human life, who have taken part in the services rendered on the occasion of the accident giving rise to salvage, are entitled to a fair share of the remuneration awarded to the salvors of the vessel, her cargo, and accessories. (Sec. 3.)

A suit for the recovery of remuneration for rendering assistance or salvage services shall not be maintainable if brought later than two years from the date when such assistance or salvage was rendered, unless the court in which the suit is brought shall be satisfied that during such period there had not been any reasonable opportunity of arresting the assisted or salved vessel within the jurisdiction of the court or within the territorial waters of the country in which the libelant resides or has his principal place of business. (Sec. 4.)

Nothing in this Act shall be construed as applying to ships of war or to Government ships appropriated exclusively to a public service. (Aug. 1, 1912; sec. 5.)

Protection against fire.

Every steamer carrying passengers or freight shall be provided with suitable pipes and valves attached to the boiler to convey steam into the hold and to the different compartments thereof to extinguish fire, or such other suitable apparatus as may be prescribed by the regulations of the board of supervising inspectors, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, for extinguishing fire in the hold and compartments thereof by the introduction through pipes into such hold and compartments of carbonic acid gas or other fire-extinguishing gas or vapor; and every stove used on board of any such vessel shall be well and securely fastened, so as to prevent it from being moved or overthrown, and all woodwork or other ignitible substances about the boilers, chimneys, cook houses, and stovepipes, exposed to ignition shall be thoroughly shielded by some