Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That every captain or commanding officer of any vessel in the service of the United States immediately on his coming into port, after having captured a ship or vessel of equal or superior force, shall make report thereof to the Secretary of the Navy, describing particularly the size and equipment of the ship or vessel so destroyed, and the nature and extent of the damage done her in the action, as also the causes and inducements for destroying his prize, which report, in part, shall be received as evidence by the commissioners aforesaid.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Navy shall cause the account of the money so by him ordered to be paid, to be settled at the end of one year, and all the unclaimed dividends he shall cause to be paid over to the Navy Hospital Fund.
Mr. Bassett, from the same committee, also presented a bill regulating pensions to persons on board private armed ships; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole on Thursday next. The bill is as follows:
A Bill regulating pensions to persons on board private armed ships.
Be it enacted, &c., That the two and a half per centum reserved in the hands of the collectors and consuls by the act of June, eighteen hundred and twelve, entitled "An act concerning letters of marque, prizes, and prize goods," shall be paid into the Treasury, under the like regulations provided for other public money, and shall constitute a fund for the purposes of this act, and such other purposes as Congress may direct, for the aid and comfort of the seamen of the United States.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Navy be authorized and required to place on the pension list, under the like regulations and restrictions as are used in relation to the Navy of the United States, any officer or seamen who, on board of any private armed ship or vessel, bearing a commission or letter of marque, shall have been, in the line of duty, wounded or otherwise disabled; if an officer, allowing him one-half his monthly pay for the greater disability, and so in proportion; and if a seaman, or acting as a marine, the sum of six dollars per month for the greater disability, and so in proportion; which several pensions shall be paid, by direction of the Secretary of the Navy, out of the fund above provided.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the commanding officer of every vessel having a commission, or letters of marque and reprisal, shall enter in his journal the name and rank of any officer, and the name of any seamen who, during his cruise, shall, in the line of his duty, have been wounded or disabled, describing the manner and extent, as far as practicable, of such wound or disability.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That every collector shall transmit quarterly to the Secretary of the Navy a transcript of such journals as may have been reported to him, so far as they give a list of the officers and crew, and the description of wounds and disabilities, the better to enable the Secretary to decide on claims for pensions.
Duties on Privateer Prize Goods.
Mr. Cheves, from the Committee of Ways and Means, to whom was referred the bill from the Senate directing the Secretary of the Treasury to remit certain fines, penalties, and forfeitures, reported the same with amendments, the principal one of which is to strike out the words "and the dependencies thereof," so as to exclude from the operation of the bill, the cases of goods brought in from Canada, &c.—The bill was referred to a Committee of the Whole.