entry or break bulk until all letters on board of such vessel shall be delivered to the nearest post-office, under a penalty not exceeding $100. Collectors are authorized to examine and search vessels for letters which may be on board, or carried contrary to law.

A receipt will be taken from the postmaster stating when the letter bags were delivered at the post-office, and certifying to the condition of the seals at that time, which receipt shall be handed to the collector at the time of the entry of the vessel.

ART. 112. It is not necessary for the master of any vessel of war or vessel employed by any foreign government to report and enter on arrival in the United States unless engaged in the transportation of merchandise in the way of trade.

R. S. 2791.

ART. 113. If a vessel, arriving from a foreign port within R. S. 2773. the limits of a collection district, shall depart or attempt to depart, unless to proceed to a more interior district to which she may be bound, before report or entry shall have been made the master will be liable to pay the sum of $400; and the collector, surveyor, or naval officer, or the commander of any revenue cutter is authorized to arrest and bring back such vessel to the most convenient port. This penalty will not be incurred if it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the collector, or of the court, that such departure was occasioned by stress of weather, pursuit or duress of enemies, or other necessity.

These provisions apply to foreign as well as American vessels, but do not extend to a vessel arriving from a foreign port and passing through the conterminous waters of a river which forms the boundary between the United States and foreign territory, for the purpose of proceeding thereto.

ART. 114. Vessels may proceed with any merchandise R. S. 2776, 2777. brought by them into the United States which shall appear in the manifest to be destined for any foreign port, on bond being given to the collector, in a sum equal to the amount of the duties upon the said merchandise, if the same shall be liable to duty, conditioned that the merchandise shall not be landed within the United States unless the entry thereof shall be first made and the duties thereon paid or secured, which bond shall be taken for the same period and canceled in the same manner as bonds taken on exportation of merchandise from warehouse. Permit to T. D. 8245. retain free goods on board may be issued without bond.

R.S., 2779.

R. S., 2780.

R.S., 2782.

R. S., 2783.

R. S., 2781.

R. S., 2784.

§ 2. LANDING OF CARGOES.

ART. 115. If merchandise be brought into the United States in a vessel from a foreign port, and specified in the manifest at the first port of arrival as destined for other districts in the United States, the importing vessel may proceed with the same from district to district in order to the landing or delivery thereof, the duties on such goods only as are landed or delivered in any district to be paid. or secured in such district. But before such vessel shall so depart, if the departure be not within 48 hours after arrival, the master is required to obtain from the collector a certified copy of the report and manifest (Cat. No. 473), on which must be endorsed a statement of the quantity and particulars of the goods landed within his district, or of the goods remaining on board upon which duties are to be paid or secured in some other district, and also obtain a permit to proceed to the other district to finish unloading. The master of such vessel is required to give bond in form Cat. No. 474 to the collector of the district within which the vessel shall first arrive, in a sum equal to the amount of the duties on the residue of the cargo, conditioned upon the production of evidence of the lawful landing of the same.

The said bond shall be canceled within 6 months from the date thereof, on the production of certificates from the collectors of the districts into which the goods shall have been imported, testifying the due entry and delivery of the goods in such districts; or upon proof, to the satisfaction of the collector by whom the bond shall have been taken, and of the naval officer of such port, if any, that such entry and delivery were prevented by some unavoidable accident, and if the whole or any part of the goods shall not have been lost, that the same have been duly entered and delivered within the United States.

ART. 116. Within 24 hours after the arrival of the vessel in another district, the master is required to report to the collector of such district, exhibiting the certified copy of his first report, together with a certificate as aforesaid from the collector of each district within which any of the merchandise brought in such vessel shall have been landed, stating the quantity and particulars thereof.

ART. 117. A penalty of $500 is imposed on the master of such vessel for failure to obtain a copy of his report from the collector at the port of departure, or any certificate he is thus required to obtain, or to exhibit the same to the col

lector of any other district, to which the vessel may afterwards proceed, within 24 hours after arrival.

Enrollment and license must not be granted to a vessel T. D. 17581. having on board merchandise brought in her from a foreign

port and not unladen in the United States.

ART. 118. The master of a vessel bringing ballast of no mercantile value may obtain a permit to discharge the same on taking an oath on form Cat. No. 497.

The following permit will then be issued.

FORM NO. 6.

Permit to unlade ballast of no mercantile value.

To the Inspectors :

PORT OF

—, from

the bal- T. D. 3895.

You will allow to be unladen from the last, consisting of if, upon your examination thereof, you find it to be of no appreciable mercantile value, and report the same upon your return. If you find it to be of appreciable mercantile value, you will indorse the fact upon this permit, and return it to the collector for further orders.

Deputy Naval Officer.

Deputy Collector.

2893, 2894.

ART. 119. Whenever a vessel from a foreign port is R.S.. 2801, 2892, compelled by stress of weather or other necessity to put into any other port than that of her destination, the master, together with the person next in command, within 24 hours after arrival, shall make protest in the usual form, upon oath before a duly authorized person, setting forth the causes or circumstances of such necessity. This protest, if not made before the collector, must be produced to him and the naval officer, and a copy thereof lodged with them.

The master of such vessel shall make report to the collector within 48 hours after arrival, and if it appear to the collector by the certificate of the port wardens, or if there be no such officers, by the certificate of two reputable merchants, to be named by the collector, that it is necessary to unlade the vessel, the collector and naval officer will grant a permit and detail an inspector to supervise the unlading; and the merchandise so unladen will be stored under custody of the collector.

At the request of the master of the vessel, or of the owner thereof, the collector and the naval officer shall grant permission to enter and pay the duties on, and dispose of, such part of the cargo as may be of a perishable nature, or as may be necessary to defray the expenses 9095- -5

R. S., 2896.

R. S., 2867.

attending the vessel. And if the delivery of the cargo do not agree with the master's report, and the difference be not satisfactorily explained, the master will become subject to the penalties provided in the case of ordinary importations.

The cargo, or the residue thereof, may be reladen on board the vessel, under the inspection of an officer, and the vessel may proceed with the same to her destination, subject only to the charge for storing and safe-keeping of the merchandise and the fees for entrance and clear

ance.

ART. 120. When a vessel is prevented by ice from reaching her port of destination the collector of the district where such vessel may arrive may receive the master's report and entry, and, with the consent of the naval officer, may grant permit for the delivery of the cargo at such place in his district as he may deem proper; but all regulations, restrictions, penalties, and provisions are as applicable to this case as if the unlading and delivery took place at the port of destination.

In case a vessel is prevented from reaching her port of destination by shallow water or other obstructions, or by reason of marine casualty, application should be made, through the collector, to the Secretary of the Treasury for permission to discharge the cargo at a convenient port, to be forwarded to its port of destination. On receipt of such permission, the cargo may be so forwarded, accompanied with manifests showing the part of the cargo so conveyed by other means of transport, duly certified by the officer who superintended its transshipment.

ART. 121. When vessels are wrecked in the waters of the United States, application should be made to the Secretary of the Treasury by the original owners or consignees of the cargo, or by the underwriters, in cases of abandonment to them, for permission to forward the goods saved from the wreck to the ports of destination in other conveyances, without entry at the custom-house in the district in which the merchandise was cast ashore or unladen. On receipt of such permission, the merchandise may be so forwarded, with particular manifests thereof, duly certified by the customs officer in charge of the goods.

ART. 122. If, after the arrival of any vessel, bound to the United States from a foreign port, within the limits of any collection district of the United States, or within 4 leagues of the coast thereof, any part of the cargo of such

vessel shall be unladen before her arrival at her port of destination and without authority from the proper officers of the customs, the master of such vessel and the person next in command shall respectively pay the sum of $1,000 for each offense; and the merchandise so unladen, except in the case of accident, necessity, or stress of weather, shall be forfeited. When such unlading occurs from these unavoidable causes and the master, with two or more of the officers and mariners of the vessel, shall make oath of the facts before the collector of the district within which the casualty occurred, or before the collector of the first district at which such vessel shall afterwards arrive, if the casualty occurred within 4 leagues of the coast and without the limits of any collection district, the penalty will not be incurred.

ART. 123. If the merchandise so unladen be transferred to any other vessel, except in the case of accident, necessity, or stress of weather, to be proved as above required, the master in charge of the receiving vessel, and every other person aiding and assisting, shall forfeit and pay treble the value of said merchandise, and the vessel shall also be forfeited.

R. S., 2868.

T D., 18029, 16474.

ART. 124. Merchandise brought in a vessel from a for- R. S., 2871. eign port can not be unladen or delivered from such vessel but in open day except by special permission from the collector and naval officer; and upon the issuing of a general order and the execution of a sufficient bond, conditioned to indemnify him for all losses and liabilities which may be occasioned by reason of the granting of such permit, the collector and naval officer shall grant a special permission to any vessel from a foreign port to unlade cargo at night.

When such permits are granted a uniform and reasonable compensation shall be allowed to inspectors for their services, to be paid through the collector by the persons accommodated.

R. S., 2872.

Act June 26, 1884, sec. 25.

R. S., 2880, 2966, 2969, and act

ART. 125. When merchandise remains on board a vessel after the expiration of legal time for discharging the May 9, 1896. same the collector may take possession thereof.

The legal time allowed is as follows:

Vessels of less than 500 tons, 10 working days after entry.

Vessels of 500 tons and less than 1,000 tons, 15 working

days after entry.

Vessels of 1,000 tons and less than 1,500 tons, 20 working days after entry.