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bles, being under the war department, have been mentioned in the last chapter.

§2. The following table exhibits the pay and subsistence allowed in the navy of the United States to officers and petty officers. The pay of the seamen, ordinary seamen, and marines, is fixed by the president.

Rank or station.

Captain of a vessel of thirty-two
guns and upwards

Captain of a vessel of twenty and

under thirty-two guns

Pay per Rations month. per day.

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Lieutenant

Chaplain

Master

Master commandant

Lieutenant commanding

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Purser

Boatswain

Gunner

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Sail-maker

Carpenter

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When an officer is employed in the command of a squadron on separate service, his allowance of rations is double.

When officers and men are taken by the enemy, if they have done their utmost to defend and preserve their vessel, and have behaved themselves obediently to their superiors, agreeably to the discipline of the navy, their pay goes on, and is paid them till their death, exchange, or discharge.

3. The proceeds of all captured vessels, and the goods on board, if adjudged good prize, are the sole property of the captors, when of equal or superior force to the vessel making the capture; when of inferior force, one half goes to the captors, and the other to the navy pension fund. The prize money is divided among the officers and men in the following

manner.

I. To the commanding officers of fleets, squadrons, or single ships, three twentieths, of which the commanding officer of the fleet or squadron has one twentieth, if the prize be taken by a ship or vessel acting under his command, and the commander of single ships, two twentieths; but where the prize is taken by a ship acting independently of such superior officer, the three twentieths belong to her commander.

II. To sea lieutenants, captains of marines, and sailing masters, two twentieths; but where there is a captain, without a lieutenant of marines, these officers are entitled to two twentieths and one third of a twentieth, which third, in such case, is deducted from the share of the officers mentioned in article No. III.

III. To chaplains, lieutenants of marines, surgeons, pursers, boatswains, gunners, carpenters, and masters mates, two twentieths.

IV. To midshipmen, surgeon's mates, captain's clerks, schoolmasters, boatswain's mates, gunner's mates, carpenter's mates, ship's stewards, sailmakers, masters at arms, armorers, cockswains, and coopers, three twentieths and an half.

V. To gunner's yeomen, boatswain's yeomen, quarter masters, quarter gunners, sailmaker's mates, serjeants and corporals of marines, drummers, fifers, and extra petty officers, two twentieths and an half.

VI. To seamen, ordinary seamen, marines, and all other persons doing duty on board, seven twentieths.

VII. Whenever one or more public ships or vessels are in sight at the time any one or more ships are taking a prize or prizes, they all share equally in the prize, according to the number of men and guns on board each ship in sight.

The commander of a fleet or squadron is not entitled to receive any share of prizes taken by vessels not under his immediate command; nor of such prizes as may have been taken by ships or vessels intended to be placed under his command, before they have acted under his immediate orders; and a commander of a fleet or squadron, leaving the station where he had the command, has no share in the prizes taken by ships left on such station, after he has gone out of the limits of his command.

A bounty of twenty dollars is paid by the United States for each person on board an enemy's ship at the commencement of an engagement, which is sunk or destroyed by an United States vessel of equal or inferior force, the bounty to be divided among the officers and crew in the same manner as prize

money.

4. The officers, seamen, and marines, disabled in the line of their duty, are entitled to a pension for life, or during their disability, according to the nature and degree of such disability, not exceeding half pay, out of the navy pension fund, arising from that part of the sale of prizes paid to the United States. In case of death their widows and children are entitled to half pay for five years. The public faith is pledged to make up the deficiency, should their fund prove deficient; and should it prove more than sufficient, the surplus is to be applied to the making further provision for the comfort of the disabled officers, seamen, and marines, and for such as, though not disabled, may merit the gratitude of their country, by their bravery, or by their long and faithful services.

This fund is at present in a very flourishing condition. There are 149 pensioners, who are paid from $ 36 to $ 450 per annum, according to their rank and the degree of their disability. The aggregate of the pensions for 1813 amounted to $ 11,273 20. The dividends arising from the stock belonging to the fund amounted only to $ 10,895 75, but a hundred thousand dollars had been placed in the treasury of the United States on the 28th of December, 1813, for which stock was to be issued, and $122,600 41 remained unexpended on the 31st, which was also about to be vested in stock.

5. Commissions to privateers and letters of marque are issued by the president, and are revocable at his pleasure. When applications are made for them, a statement in writing must be made of the name and a suitable description of the tonnage and force of the vessel, the name and place of residence of the owners, and the intended number of the crew; and before a commission can be issued, the commander must give bond, with at least two responsible sureties, not interested in the vessel, for five thousand dollars, or if the vessel be provided with more than 150 men, for ten thousand dollars, conditioned that all who may be employed in the vessel shall observe the treaties and laws of the United States, and the instructions which may be given them by the president according to law, for the regulation of their conduct; that they will satisfy all damages and injuries committed contrary to the tenor of their instructions; and that they will deliver up their commission when revoked by the president.

But

All captures of vessels and property made by privateers or letters of marque are forfeited for the exclusive benefit of their owners, officers, and crews, and they are allowed a just and reasonable salvage on recaptures, to be determined by the mutual agreement of the parties concerned, or a decree of court. they are not allowed to break bulk of any vessel; they must be regularly condemned before a competent tribunal, who may decree restitution in whole or in part, when the capture has been made without just cause. And if any capture be made unreasonably, or without probable cause, the court may decree costs and damages to the injured party, for which the owners and commander and the vessel itself is liable. The same bounty for the destruction of vessels of equal or superior force is allowed to privateers as to public vessels, in addition to which they are allowed a bounty of $100 for every prisoner captured and delivered to an agent of the United States.

§ 6. Two per cent. on the net amount of prize money, arising from captures and salvage, is paid to the collectors, if the vessels be condemned in the United States, if elsewhere to the American consuls. The monies arising from this source are pledged by government as a fund for the support and maintenance of those who may be wounded and disabled in action, and of the widows and orphans of such as may be slain.

The rest of the prize money is distributed according to the written agreement of the parties; or, if there be none, one moiety is paid to the owners, and the other moiety distributed among the officers and crew, as near as may be according to the rules for the distribution of prize money in the navy, for which see 3, of this chapter.

$7. In order to prevent improper conduct in the commanders of private armed vessels, every commanding officer is obliged to keep a regular journal, containing a true and exact account of his daily transactions and proceedings; the ports and places he puts into or casts anchor in; the time of his stay there and the cause thereof; the prizes he takes, and their nature and probable value; the times and places, when and where taken, and how disposed of. It is also his duty to note the vessels he falls in with, and when and where, with his observations and remarks thereon; and whatever else occurs to him, or any of his officers and mariners, or is discovered by examination or conference with persons in other vessels, or in any other manner, respecting the fleets, &c. of the enemy, their places of destination or station, strength, &c. This journal must be delivered to the collector immediately on the vessel's arrival in port, signed and verified by the oath of the commander; and she is not allowed to sail

again until this is done, and until a certificate is obtained from the collector that she is manned and armed according to her commission, of which an examination is made on her arrival by the proper officer of the customs. A penalty of a thousand dollars, besides the revocation of his commission, is imposed on every commander of a private armed vessel who shall neglect to keep a journal, wilfully make fraudulent entries therein, or obliterate any material transaction in which the interest of the United States is in any manner concerned; or who shall refuse to produce his journal, commission, or certificate to the commander of any public vessel or revenue cutter he may fall in with.

8. Offences committed on board of private armed vessels are tried and punished in the same manner as the same offences committed on board of public vessels. The offenders are confined until the arrival of the vessel in port, or till she meet a public vessel, the officers of which are sufficient to form a court martial for that purpose.

Besides the funds for the benefit of seamen which have already been mentioned, viz. the privateer and the navy pension funds, there are two of a more general nature, one of which is called the marine hospital fund, the other the fund for the maintenance of destitute American seamen in foreign countries, and for the payment of the passages of such of them as may be desirous of returning to the United States.

9. The marine hospital fund arises from a deduction of twenty cents per month from the wages of all seamen, whether in the merchant service, or in the public or private armed vessels of the United States, and from the wages of every person employed in navigating the Mississippi. All fines imposed on navy officers, seamen, and marines also go to this fund. Its use is sufficiently pointed out by its title.

The following is a statement of the amount of expenditures from this fund for sick and disabled seamen, during the year 1812, and in what manner made.

Portsmouth, N. H.; the sick seamen are boarded in
private houses, and attended by physicians paid at
the customary rates; total expenditure 1812
Portland, Maine; seamen boarded in private houses,
at two and three dollars a week; there was paid
to physicians in 1812, 218 dollars; total ex-
penditure
Boston; an hospital built and supported at the ex-
pense of the United States, with a surgeon who
is paid 1000 dollars a year, a steward who is paid

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$ 489 70

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