And whereas the objects of the said trade and consequential servitude, and the grievances resulting therefrom, come under the principal heads following, the regulations ought thereto to be severally applied: that is to say, that provision should be made by the said regulations,
1st, For duly qualifying ships for the said traffic;
2nd, For the mode and conditions of permitting the said trade to be carried on upon the coast of Africa;
3rd, For the treatment of the negroes in their passage to the West India islands;
4th, For the government of the negroes which are or shall be employed in his Majesty's colonies and plantations in the West Indies:
Ships to be registered.Be it therefore enacted, that every ship or trading vessel which is intended for the negro trade, with the name of the owner or owners thereof, shall be entered and registered as ships trading to the West Indies are by law to be registered, with the further provisions following:
Measured and surveyed.1. The same entry and register shall contain an account of the greatest number of negroes of all descriptions which are proposed to be taken into the said ship or trading vessel; and the said ship, before she is permitted to be entered outwards, shall be surveyed by a ship-carpenter, to be appointed by the collector of the port from which the said vessel is to depart, and by a surgeon, also appointed by the collector, who hath been conversant in the service of the said trade, but not at the time actually engaged or covenanted therein; and the said carpenter and surgeon shall report to the collector, or in his absence, to the next principal officer of the port; upon oath, (which oath the said collector or principal officer is hereby empowered to administer,) her measurement, and what she contains in builder's tonnage, and that she has —— feet of grated portholes between the decks, and that she is otherwise fitly found as a good transport vessel.
Number of slaves limited.2. And be it enacted, that no ship employed in the said trade shall upon any pretence take in more negroes than one grown man or woman for one ton and half of builder's tonnage, nor more than one boy or girl for one ton.
Provisions.3. That the said ship or other vessel shall lay in, in proportion to the ship's company of the said vessel, and the number of negroes registered, a full and sufficient store of sound provision, so as to be secure against all probable delays and accidents, namely, salted beef, pork, salt-fish, butter, cheese, biscuit, flour, rice, oat-meal, and white peas, but no horse-beans, or other inferior provisions; and the said ship shall be properly provided with water-casks or jars, in proportion to the intended number of the said negroes; and the said ship shall be also provided with a proper and sufficient stock of coals or firewood.
Stores.4. And every ship entered as aforesaid shall take out a coarse shirt and a pair of trousers, or petticoat, for each negro intended to be taken aboard; as also a mat, or coarse mattress, or hammock, for the use of the said negroes. The proportions of provision, fuel, and clothing to be regulated by the table annexed to this act.