The Men on Deck: Master, Mates and Crew, Their Duties and Responsibilities

by Felix Riesenberg

Inspection of merchandise laden for export.

The collector shall direct the surveyor, where any, to inspect, or cause to be inspected, the merchandise notified for exportation, and if it is found to correspond fully with the notice and proof concerning the same, the collector, together with the naval officer, if any, shall grant a permit for lading the same on board of the vessel named in such notice and entry. Such lading shall be performed under the superintendence of the officer by whom the same has been so inspected; and the exporter shall make oath that the merchandise, so noticed for exportation, and laden on board such vessel, previous to the clearance thereof, or within ten days after such clearance, is truly intended to be exported to the place whereof notice has been given, and is not intended to be relanded within the United States; otherwise the merchandise shall not be entitled to the benefit of drawback. (R. S., 3035.)

Transfer of imported merchandise for export.

All merchandise imported into the United States, the duties on which have been paid, or secured to be paid, may be transported by land, or partly by land and partly by water, or coastwise, from the district into which it was imported to any port of entry and exported from such port of entry with the benefit of drawback. (R. S., 3036.)

Delivery of cargo in various districts.

Any vessel in which any merchandise is brought into the United States from any foreign port, and which is specified in the manifest verified before the collector of the port in which such vessel first arrives, to be destined for other districts, may proceed with the same from district to district within the United States, in order to the landing or delivery thereof; and the duties on such of the merchandise only as shall be landed in any district shall be paid within such district. (R. S., 2779.)

Before any vessel departs from the district in which she shall first arrive for another district, provided such departure is not within forty-eight hours after her arrival within such district, with merchandise brought in such vessel from a foreign port on which the duties have not been paid, the master shall obtain from the collector of the district from which she is about to depart, who is hereby required to grant the same, a copy of the report and manifest made by such master, certified by the collector, to which copy shall be annexed a certificate of the quantity and particulars of the merchandise which appears to him to have been landed within his district, or of the quantity and particulars of the merchandise which remains on board and upon which the duties are to be paid in some other district. (R. S., 2780.)

Within twenty-four hours after the arrival of such vessel within any other district, the master shall make report or entry to or with the collector of such other district, producing and showing the certified copy of his first report, together with a certificate from each collector of any other district within which any of the merchandise, brought in such vessel, has been landed, of the quantity and particulars of such merchandise as has been landed in each district respectively. (R. S., 2781.)

The master shall, however, first give bond, with one or more sureties, to the satisfaction of the collector of the district within which the vessel first arrives, in a sum equal to the amount of the duties on the residue of the merchandise, according to such estimate as the collector shall form thereof, with condition that the residue of such merchandise shall be duly entered and delivered in another district for which the same has been reported to be destined. (R. S., 2782.)

The bond shall be canceled or discharged within six calendar months from the date thereof, by the production of certificates from the collectors of the districts for which the merchandise has been reported, showing the due entry and delivery of the merchandise in such districts, or upon due proof to the satisfaction of the collector by whom the bond was taken, and to the naval officer of the port, if any, that such entry and delivery were prevented by some unavoidable accident or casualty, and if the whole or any part of the merchandise has not been lost, that it has been duly entered and delivered within the United States. (R. S., 2783.)