report of such services, and the fees provided by law, to the Secretary of the Treasury, and that the Secretary should allow and pay, from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, said officers such compensation for said services as each would have received prior to the passage of the act, and also such compensation to clerks of shipping commissioners and clerks of steamboat inspectors, and such allowances for fees of United States marshals and witnesses for services under the steamboat inspection laws, and for expenses of steamboat inspectors provided for by R. S. § 4461, post, § 8222, as would have been paid them had not the act been passed, provided that such services were, in the opinion of the Secretary, necessarily rendered.

§ 7772. (Act Aug. 5, 1882, c. 398, § 3.) Regulation of fees for readmeasurement.

The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to make all needful regulations to carry into effect the provisions of this act, and he shall establish and promulgate a proper scale of fees to be paid for the readmeasurement of the spaces to be deducted from the gross tonnage of a vessel, on the basis of the last sentence of section forty-one hundred and eighty-six of the Revised Statutes, beginning with the words "But the charge for the measurement." (22 Stat. 301.)

This section was part of an act to provide for deductions from the gross tonnage of vessels of the United States.

Section 1 of the act amended R. S. § 4153, and is incorporated in that section, ante, § 7730.

Section 2 of the act amended R. S. § 4154, and is incorporated in that section, ante, § 7735.

R. S. § 4186, mentioned in this section, is set forth ante, § 7771.

§ 7773. (R. S. § 4187.) Penalty for misconduct by officers.

Every collector or officer who knowingly makes, or is concerned in making, any false register or record, or who knowingly grants or is concerned in granting, any false certificate of registry or record of or for any vessel, or any other false document whatever touching the same, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Title, or who designedly takes any other or greater fees than are by this Title allowed, or who receives any voluntary reward or gratuity for any of the services performed, pursuant thereto; and every surveyor or other person appointed to measure any vessel, who willfully delivers to any collector or naval officer a false description of such vessel, to be registered or recorded, shall be punishable by a fine of one thousand dollars, and be rendered incapable of serving in any office of trust or profit under the United States.

Act 'Dec. 31, 1792, c. 1, § 26, 1 Stat. 298.

§ 7774. (R. S. § 4188.) Penalty for neglect by officers.

If any person authorized and required by this Title to perform, as an officer, any act or thing, willfully neglects to do or perform the same according to the true intent and meaning of this Title, he shall, if not subject to the penalty and disqualification prescribed in the preceding section, be punishable by a fine of five hundred dollars for the first offense, and by a like fine for the second offense, and shall thenceforth be rendered incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the United States.

Act 'Dec. 31, 1792, c. 1, § 26, 1 Stat. 298.

§ 7775. (R. S. § 4189.) Penalty for fraudulent registry.

Whenever any certificate of registry, enrollment, or license, or other record or document granted in lieu thereof, to any vessel, is knowingly and fraudulently obtained or used for any vessel not entitled to the benefit thereof, such vessel, with her tackle, apparel, and furniture, shall be liable to forfeiture.

Act Dec. 31, 1792, c. 1, § 27, 1 Stat. 298. Act July 18, 1866, c. 201, § 24, 14 Stat. 184.

§ 7776. (R. S. § 4190.) Sea-letters, to what vessels issued.

No sea-letter or other document certifying or proving any vessel to be the property of a citizen of the United States shall be issued, except to vessels duly registered, or enrolled and licensed as vessels of the United States, or to vessels which shall be wholly owned by citizens of the United States, and furnished with or entitled to sealetters or other custom-house documents,

Act March 26, 1810, c. 19, 2 Stat. 568.

§ 7777. (R. S. § 4191.) Making or using forged sea-letters, etc. Every person who knowingly makes, utters, or publishes any false sea-letter, Mediterranean passport, or certificate of registry, or who knowingly avails himself of any such Mediterranean passport, sealetter, or certificate of registry, shall be liable to a penalty of not more than five thousand dollars, and, if an officer of the United States, shall thenceforth be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the authority of the United States.

Act March 2, 1803, c. 18, § 1, 2 Stat. 209.

Penal provisions punishing the forging or altering ship's papers or customhouse documents were made by R. S. § 5423, which was incorporated in Criminal Code, § 72, post, § 10240, and was repealed by section 341 thereof, post, 10515.

§ 7778. (R. S. § 4192.) Conveyance of vessels; lien by bottomry. No bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or conveyance of any vessel, or part of any vessel, of the United States, shall be valid against any person other than the grantor or mortgagor, his heirs and devisees, and persons having actual notice thereof, unless such bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or conveyance is recorded in the office of the collector of the customs where such vessel is registered or enrolled. The lien by bottomry on any vessel, created during her voyage, by a loan of money or materials necessary to repair or enable her to prosecute a voyage, shall not, however, lose its priority, or be in any way affected by the provisions of this section. Act July 29, 1850, c. 27, § 1, 9 Stat. 440.

Besides the requirement of recording bills of sale, etc., of vessels, in this section, and R. S. § 4193, post, § 7779, new registry was required upon sale or transfer of a registered vessel, by R. S. § 4170, ante, § 7751; and vessels enrolled were made subject to the requirements prescribed for registered vessels, by R. S. § 4312, post, § 8058.

Requisites of bills of sale of vessels registered or enrolled were prescribed by R. S. § 4196, post, § 7782.

A maritime lien for repairs, supplies, etc., furnished to a vessel, to be enforced by a proceeding in rem, without alleging or proving that credit was given to the vessel, is provided for by Act June 23, 1910, c. 373, post, §§ 77837787.

§ 7779. (R. S. § 4193.) Record of bills of sale, mortgages, etc.; acknowledgments.

The collectors of the customs shall record all such bills of sale, mortgages, hypothecations, or conveyances, and, also, all certificates for discharging and canceling any such conveyances, in books to be kept for that purpose, in the order of their reception; noting in such books, and also on the bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or conveyance, the time when the same was received; and shall certify on the bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or conveyance, or certificate of discharge or cancellation, the number of the book and page where recorded; and shall receive, for so recording such instrument of conveyance or certificate of discharge, fifty cents; but no bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, conveyance, or discharge of mortgage or other incumbrance of any vessel, shall be recorded, unless the same is duly acknowledged before a notary public or other officer authorized to take acknowledgment of deeds.

Act July 29, 1850, c. 27, 82, 9 Stat. 440. Act March 3, 1865, c. 101, § 1, 13 Stat. 518.

The fee allowed by this section for recording bills of sale, etc., was abolished by Act June 19, 1886, c. 421, § 1, as amended by Act April 4, 1888, c. 61, § 2, post, § 8138. Said act provided, however, that collectors or other officers of customs, inspectors of steam-vessels, and shipping commissioners, who are paid wholly or partly by fees, should make a detailed report of such services, and the fees provided by law, to the Secretary of the Treasury, and that the Secretary should allow and pay, from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, said officers such compensation for said services as each would have received prior to the passage of the act, and also such compensation to clerks of shipping commissioners and clerks of steamboat inspectors, and such allowances for fees of United States marshals and witnesses for services under the steamboat inspection laws, and for expenses of steamboat inspectors provided for by R. S. § 4461, post, § 8222, as would have been paid them had not the act been passed, provided that such services were, in the opinion of the Secretary, necessarily rendered.

See, also, notes to R. S. § 4192, ante, § 7778.

§ 7780. (R. S. § 4194.) Index of records.

The collectors of the customs shall keep an index of such records, inserting alphabetically the names of the vendor or mortgagor, and of the purchaser or mortgagee, and shall permit such index and books of records to be inspected during office-hours, under such reasonable regulations as they may establish, and shall, when required, furnish to any person a certificate, setting forth the names of the owners of any vessel registered or enrolled, the parts or proportions owned by each, if inserted in the register or enrollment, and also the material facts of any existing bill of sale, mortgage, hypothecation, or other incumbrance upon such vessel, recorded since the issuing of the last register or enrollment, viz, the date, amount of such incumbrance, and from and to whom, or in whose favor made. The collector shall receive for each such certificate one dollar.

Act July 29, 1850, c. 27, § 3, 9 Stat. 440.

The fee allowed by this section was abolished by Act June 19, 1886, c. 421, § 1, as amended by Act April 4, 1888, c. 61, § 2, post, § 8138. Said act provided, however, that collectors or other officers of customs, inspectors of steam-vessels, and shipping commissioners, who are paid wholly or partly by fees, should make a detailed report of such services, and the fees pro

vided by law, to the Secretary of the Treasury, and that the Secretary should allow and pay, from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, said officers such compensation for said services as each would have received prior to the passage of the act, and also such compensation to clerks of shipping commissioners and clerks of steamboat inspectors, and such allowances for fees of United States marshals and witnesses for services under the steamboat inspection laws, and for expenses of steamboat inspectors provided for by R. S. § 4461, post, § 8222, as would have been paid them had not the act been passed, provided that such services were, in the opinion of the Secretary, necessarily rendered.

§ 7781. (R. S. § 4195.) Certified copies of records.

The collectors of the customs shall furnish certified copies of such records, on the receipt of fifty cents for each bill of sale, mortgage, or other conveyance.

Act July 29, 1850, c. 27, § 4, 9 Stat. 441.

The fee allowed by this section was abolished by Act June 19, 1886, c. 421, § 1, as amended by Act April 4, 1888, c. 61, § 2, post, § 8138. Said act provided, however, that collectors or other officers of customs, inspectors of steam-vessels, and shipping commissioners, who are paid wholly or partly by fees, should make a detailed report of such services, and the fees provided by law, to the Secretary of the Treasury, and that the Secretary should allow and pay, from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, said officers such compensation for said services as each would have received prior to the passage of the act, and also such compensation to clerks of shipping commissioners and clerks of steamboat inspectors, and such allowances for fees of United States marshals and witnesses for services under the steamboat inspection laws, and for expenses of steamboat inspectors provided for by R. S. § 4461, post, § 8222, as would have been paid them had not the act been passed, provided that such services were, in the opinion of the Secretary, necessarily rendered.

§ 7782. (R. S. § 4196.) Interests to be named in bills of sale.

All bills of sale of vessels registered or enrolled, shall set forth the part of the vessel owned by each person selling, and the part conveyed to each person purchasing.

Act July 29, 1850, c. 27, § 5, 9 Stat. 441.

Bills of sale, etc., of vessels were required to be recorded, by R. S. §§ 4192, 4193, ante, §§ 7778, 7779.

§ 7783. (Act June 23, 1910, c. 373, § 1.) Maritime lien on vessel for repairs, supplies, etc., to be enforced in rem, without allegation or proof that credit was given to vessel.

Any person furnishing repairs, supplies, or other necessaries, including the use of dry dock or marine railway, to a vessel, whether foreign or domestic, upon the order of the owner or owners of such vessel, or of a person by him or them authorized, shall have a maritime lien on the vessel which may be enforced by a proceeding in rem, and it shall not be necessary to allege or prove that credit was given to the vessel. (36 Stat. 604.)

This section and the four sections next following were an act entitled "An act relating to liens on vessels for repairs, supplies, or other necessaries." § 7784. (Act June 23, 1910, c. 373, § 2.) Persons presumed to have authority to procure repairs, supplies, etc., for vessel.

The following persons shall be presumed to have authority from the owner or owners to procure repairs, supplies, and other necessaries for the vessel: The managing owner, ship's husband, master,

or any person to whom the management of the vessel at the port of supply is intrusted. No person tortiously or unlawfully in possession or charge of a vessel shall have authority to bind the vessel. (36 Stat. 604.)

§ 7785. (Act June 23, 1910, c. 373, § 3.) Officers and agents appointed by charterer, etc., included with persons specified in preceding section; no lien when want of authority to bind vessel was known to furnisher of repairs, supplies, etc.

The officers and agents of a vessel specified in section two shall be taken to include such officers and agents when appointed by a charterer, by an owner pro hac vice, or by an agreed purchaser in possession of the vessel, but nothing in this Act shall be construed to confer a lien when the furnisher knew, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence could have ascertained, that because of the terms of a charter party, agreement for sale of the vessel, or for any other reason, the person ordering the repairs, supplies, or other necessaries was without authority to bind the vessel therefor. (36 Stat. 605.) § 7786. (Act June 23, 1910, c. 373, § 4.) Waiver of right to lien; act not to affect rules of law as to other rights and remedies. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent a furnisher of repairs, supplies, or other necessaries from waiving his right to a lien at any time, by agreement or otherwise, and this Act shall not be construed to affect the rules of law now existing, either in regard to the right to proceed against a vessel for advances, or in regard to laches in the enforcement of liens on vessels, or in regard to the priority or rank of liens, or in regard to the right to proceed in personam. (36 Stat. 605.)

§ 7787. (Act June 23, 1910, c. 373, § 5.) State statutes conferring liens on vessels, to be enforced by proceedings in rem, for repairs, supplies, etc., superseded.

This Act shall supersede the provisions of all state statutes conferring liens on vessels in so far as the same purport to create rights of action to be enforced by proceedings in rem against vessels for repairs, supplies, and other necessaries. (36 Stat. 604.) § 7788. (Act July 9, 1912, c. 220.) Unrigged wooden vessels; notation of rebuilding on list of merchant vessels.

Upon affidavit by reputable shipbuilder of the United States that an unrigged wooden vessel of the United States has been rebuilt, giving the date and place of such rebuilding, is sound and free from rotten or doted wood in structural parts, properly fastened and calked and in strength and seaworthiness as good as new, the Commissioner of Navigation shall include in the List of Merchant Vessels a notation to that effect. (37 Stat. 189.)

This was an act entitled "An act concerning unrigged vessels."

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