sued for, recovered, distributed, and accounted for under the directions of the Secretary of the Navy, and shall be paid over, one-half to the informers, if any, or captors, where seized, and the other half to the Secretary of the Navy for the use of the Navy pension-fund; and the Secretary is authorized to mitigate, in whole or in part, on such terms and conditions as he deems proper, by an order in writing, any fine, penalty, or forfeiture so incurred.

Prize money

remain a fund for

Sec. 1, 17 July,

1862..

SEC. 4752. All money accruing or which has already accruing to the accrued to the United States from sale of prizes shall be United States to and remain forever a fund for the payment of pensions to pensions. the officers, seamen, and marines who may be entitled to receive the same; if such fund be insufficient for the purpose, the public faith is pledged to make up the deficiency; but if it should be more than sufficient, the surplus shall be applied to the making of further provision for the comfort of the disabled officers, seamen, and marines.

fund; how to be

July, 1864.

SEC. 4753. The Secretary of the Navy, as trustee of the Navy pension naval pension-fund, is directed to cause to be invested in the invested. registered securities of the United States, on the first day of Resolution 1 January and the first day of July of each year, so much of said fund then in the Treasury of the United States as may not be required for the payment of naval pensions for the then current fiscal year; and, upon the requisition of the Secretary, so much of the fund as may not be required for such payment of pensions accruing during the current fiscal year shall be held in the Treasury on the days above named in each year, subject to his order, for the purpose of such immediate investment; and the interest payable in coin upon the securities in which the fund may be invested shall be so paid, when due, to the order of the Secretary of the Navy, and he is authorized and directed to exchange the amount of such interest, when paid in coin, for so much of the legal currency of the United States as may be obtained therefor at the current rates of premium on gold, and to deposit the interest so converted in the Treasury to the credit of the naval pension-fund; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to interfere with the payment of naval pensions under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior as regulated by law.

SEC. 4754. The interest on the naval pension-fund shall hereafter be at the rate of three per centum per annum in lawful money.

Rate of interest on naval pension

fund.

Sec. 2, 23 July, 1868.

Navy pensions payable from

fund.

SEC. 4755. The Navy pensions shall be paid from the Navy pension-fund, but no payments shall be made thereAct 11 July from except upon appropriations authorized by Congress.

1870.

disabled enlisted

Corps.

Acts 2 Mar., 1867; Dec.

1886.

Half-rating to SEC. 4756. There shall be paid out of the naval pensionpersons serving fund to every person who, from age or infirmity, is disabled twenty years in Navy or Marine from sea service, but who has served as an enlisted person, or an appointed petty officer, or both, in the Navy or Ma23, rine Corps for the period of twenty years, and not been discharged for misconduct, in lieu of being provided with a home in the Naval Asylum, Philadelphia, if he so elects, a sum equal to one-half the pay of his rating at the time he was discharged, to be paid him quarterly, under the direction of the Commissioner of Pensions; and application for such pension shall be made to the Secretary of the Navy, who, upon being satisfied that the applicant comes within the provisions of this section, shall certify the same to the Commissioner of Pensions, and such certificate shall be his warrant for making payment as herein authorized. Serving not SEC. 4757. Every disabled person who has served in the years, may re- Navy or Marine Corps as an enlisted man or appointed ceive what aid. petty officer, or both, for a period not less than ten years,

less than ten

Proviso, Act 2

Mar., 1867.
Act 23 Dec.,
1886.

Secretary

of

Navy trustee of

and not been discharged for misconduct, may apply to the Sec etary of the Navy for aid from the surplus income of the naval pension-fund; and the Secretary of the Navy is authorized to convene a board of not less than three naval officers, one of whom shall be a surgeon, to examine into the condition of the applicant, and to recommend a suitable amount for his relief, and for a specified time, and upon the approval of such recommendation by the Secretary of the Navy, and a certificate thereof to the Commissioner of Pensions, the amount shall be paid in the same manner as is provided in the preceding section for the payment to persons disabled by long service in the Navy; but no allowance so made shall exceed the rate of a pension for full disability corresponding to the grade of the applicant, nor, if in addition to a pension, exceed one-fourth the rate of such pension.

SEC. 4758. The Secretary of the Navy shall be trustee of privateer pen the private er pension-fund.

sion fund.

Secs. 3 and 5, 10 July, 1832.

Privateer pension fund; how derived.

SEC. 4759. Two per centum on the net amount, after deducting all charges and expenditures, of the prize-money Sec. 17,26 June, arising from captured vessels and cargoes, and on the net amount of the salvage of vessels and cargoes recaptured by the private armed vessels of the United States, shall be

1812.

secured and paid over to the collector or other chief officer of the customs of the port or place in the United States at which such captured or recaptured vessels may arrive; or to the consul or other public agent of the United States residing at the port or place, not within the United States, at which such captured or recaptured vessel may arrive. And the moneys arising therefrom are pledged by the Government of the United States as a fund for the support and maintenance of the widows and orphans of such persons as may be slain, and for the support and maintenance of such persons as may be wounded and disabled on board of the private armed vessels of the United States, in any engagement with the enemy, to be assigned and distributed in such manner as is or may be provided by law.

Sec. 1, 13 Feb.,

SEC. 4760. The two per centum reserved in the hands of To be paid into Treasury, etc. the collectors and consuls by the preceding section shall be paid to the Treasury, under the like regulations provided for 1813. other public money, and shall constitute a fund for the purposes provided for by that section.

any

SEC. 4761. The Secretary of the Interior is required to place on the pension-list, under the like regulations and restrictions as are used in relation to the Navy of the United States, any officer, seaman, or marine who, on board of private armed vessel bearing a commission of letter of marque, shall have been wounded or otherwise disabled in any engagement with the enemy, or in the line of their duty as officers, seamen, or marines of such private armed vessel; allowing to the captain a sum not exceeding twenty dollars per month; to lieutenants and sailing-master a sum not exceeding twelve dollars each per month; to marine officer, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, master's mate, and prize-masters a sum not exceeding ten dollars each per month; to all other officers a sum not exceeding eight dollars each per month, for the highest rate of disability, and so in proportion; and to a seaman, or acting as a marine, the sum of six dollars per month, for the highest rate of disability, and so in proportion; which several pensions shall be paid from moneys appropriated for the payment of pensions.

Wounded, etc., privateersmen to be placed on pen

sion list.

Sec. 2, 13 Feb., 1813; Sec. 3, 5 Apr., 1866.

SEC. 4762. The commanding officer of every vessel hav- Commanding officers of privaing a commission, or letters of marque and reprisal, shall teers to enter names, etc., in a enter in his journal the name and rank of any officer, and journal. the name of any seaman, who, during his cruise, is wounded, Sec. 3, 13 Feb., or disabled, describing the manner and extent, as far as practicable, of such wound or disability.

1813.

Transcript of journals to be

SEC. 4763. Every collector shall transmit quarterly to the transmitted to Secretary of the Navy a transcript of such journals as may Secretary of the Navy. have been reported to him, so far as it gives a list of the Sec. 4, 13 Feb., officers and crew, and the description of wounds and disabilities, the better to enable the Secretary to decide on claims for pensions.

1813.

Act 3 Mar., 1877.

Passed assist

ant engineers, ca

See sec. 4695, R. S.

AN ACT equalizing pensions of certain officers in the Navy. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of det engineers. the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the passage of this act, the pension for total disability of passed assistant engineers, assistant engineers, and cadet engineers in the naval service, respectively, shall be the same as the pensions allowed to officers of the line in the naval service with whom they have relative rank; and that all acts or parts of acts, inconsistent herewith be, and are hereby, repealed. Approved, March 3, 1877.

Act9June, 1880.

See sec. 4712, R. S.

1888.

AN ACT to restore pensions in certain cases.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section three of an act entitled "An act increasing the pensions of widows and orphans, and for other purposes," approved July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixtysix, and section thirteen of an act entitled "An act relating to pensions," approved July twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and section forty-seven hundred and twelve of the Revised Statutes, shall not operate to reduce the rate of any pension which had actually been allowed to the commissioned, non-commissioned, or petty officers of the Navy or their widows, or minor children, prior to July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six; and the Secretary of the Interior is hereby directed to restore all such pensions as have already been so reduced to the rate originally granted and allowed, to take effect from the date of such reduction.

Approved, June 9, 1880.

Act 14 Aug., AN ACT to relieve certain appointed or enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps from the charge of desertion.

Desertion, Navy or Marine Corps.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the charge of desertion now standing on the rolls and records

of the Navy or Marine Corps against any appointed or enlisted man of the Navy or Marine Corps who served in the late war may, in the discretion of the Secretary of the Navy, be removed in all cases where it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Navy from such rolls and records or from other satisfactory evidence, that any such appointed or enlisted man served faithfully until the expiration of his term of enlistment, or until the first day of May anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-five, having previously served six months or more, or was prevented from completing his term of service by reason of wounds received or disease contracted in the line of duty, but who, by reason of absence from his command at the time he became entitled to his discharge, failed to be mustered out and to receive a discharge from the service: Provided, That no such appointed or enlisted man shall be relieved under this section who, not being sick or wounded, left his command, without proper authority, while the same was in presence of the enemy.

to be removed.

SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Navy is hereby author-Charge of, how ized to remove the charge of desertion standing on the rolls or records of the Navy or Marine Corps against any appointed or enlisted man of the Navy or Marine Corps who served in the late war, in all cases where it shall be made to appear, to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Navy, from such rolls or from other satisfactory evidence, that such appointed or enlisted man charged with desertion or with absence without leave, after such charge of desertion or absence without leave, and within a reasonable time thereafter, voluntarily returned to and served in the line of his duty until he was mustered out of the service, and received a certificate of discharge therefrom, or, while so absent, and before the expiration of his term of enlistment, died from wounds, injury, or disease received or contracted in the service and in the line of duty.

SEC. 3. That the charge of desertion now standing on the rolls or records of the Navy or Marine Corps against any appointed or enlisted man of the Navy or Marine Corps who served in the late war, by reason of his having enlisted at any station or on board of any vessel of the Navy without having first received a discharge from the station or vessel in which he had previously served, shall be removed in all cases wherein it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Navy from such rolls and records, or from other satisfactory testimony, that such reenlistment was not made for the purpose of securing bounty

Enlistment charge from pre

without dis

vious service.