Change of master.
When the master or person having the charge or command of a registered vessel is changed, the owner, or one of the owners, or the new master of such vessel, shall report such change to the collector of the district where the same has happened, or where the vessel shall first be after the same has happened, and shall produce to him the certificate of registry of such vessel, and shall make oath, showing that such new master is a citizen of the United States, and the manner in which or means whereby he is so a citizen. Thereupon the collector shall indorse upon the certificate of registry a memorandum of such change, specifying the name of such new master, and shall subscribe the memorandum with his name; and if other than the collector of the district by whom the certificate of registry was granted, shall transmit a copy of the memorandum to him, with notice of the particular vessel to which it relates; and the collector of the district, by whom the certificate shall have been granted, shall make a like memorandum of such change in his book of registers, and shall transmit a copy thereof to the Commissioner of Navigation. If the change is not reported, or if the oath is not taken, as above directed, the registry of such vessel shall be void, and the master or person having the charge or command of her shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred dollars. (R. S., 4171—July 5, 1884; sec. 2.)