When the ship is completed, she should be registered or enrolled as an American vessel. These words are synonymous; vessels in the foreign trade are "registered" and those in the domestic or coastwise trade are "enrolled"; (The Mohawk, 3 Wall. 566; Huus v. Co., 182 U. S. 392, 395). Vessels of less than twenty tons and more than five tons are neither registered or enrolled but should be licensed.
6. Ships Entitled to.—
This proceeding is accomplished at the office of the collector of customs of the district in which the home port of the vessel may be (Rev. St. § 4141, Morgan v. Parham, 16 Wall. 471). The home port is the port at or nearest which the owner, or managing owner, resides. The registration, enrollment and licensing of vessels is fully covered by Regulations originally promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury under the navigation laws of the United States, which may now be obtained in revised form by application to the Department of Commerce at Washington.
Ships entitled to such registration or enrollment are:
1. Vessels built in the United States and owned by a citizen.
2. Vessels captured in war and condemned as prize, and owned by a citizen.
3. Vessels forfeited and sold for breach of the laws of the United States and purchased and owned by a citizen.
4. Seagoing vessels whether steam or sail which have been certified by the Steamboat Inspection Service as safe to carry dry and perishable cargo, wherever built, which are to engage only in trade with foreign countries, being wholly owned by citizens of the United States or corporations organized and chartered therein, the president and managing directors and the holders of the control of which shall be citizens of the United States; also vessels answering the foregoing description which are to trade with the Islands of Guam and Tutuila until February 1, 1922, and thereafter as governed by Sec. 21 of the Merchant Marine Act (see Appendix).
5. Vessels wrecked in the United States, and purchased and repaired by a citizen, if the cost of the repairs is equal to three times the appraised value of the wreck as salved.
6. Vessels of the United States Shipping Board sold to a citizen of the United States.