Chapter 109.
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/statutes-at-large/vol-20/chapter-109-1321658·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 109.— An act authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to accept for the purposes of a voyage of exploration by way of Behring’s Straits, the ship Jeannette, tendered by James Gordon Bennett for that purpose. Feb. 27, 1879. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America-in Congress assembled*, That the Secretary of the NavyPolar Expedition. be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept and take charge of, for the use of a North Polar Expedition by way of Behring’s straits, the shipShip Jeannette accepted for service.
Jeannette, owned by James Gordon Bennett, and by him devoted to this purpose; that he may use, in fitting her for her voyage of exploration, any material he may have on hand proper for the purposes of an Arctic voyage; and that he is further authorized to enlist the necessaryEnlistment and pay of men. crew for the said vessel for “special service”, their pay to be temporarily met from the pay of the Navy, and to be paid or refunded by James Gordon Bennett to the Navy Department under the order of the Secretary of the Navy and as lie may require; the vessel to proceed on her voyage of exploration under the orders and instructions of the Navy Department; that the men so “specially enlisted” as above shall beSubject to Articles of War. subject in all respects to the Articles of War and Navy Regulations and discipline; and that all parts of the act approved March eighteenth,1878, ch. 38,*Ante*, 31. eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, inconsistent with the above, be, and they are hereby, repealed: *Provided,* That the government of the*Proviso*.
United States shall not be held liable for any expenditure incurred or to be incurred on account of said exploration. Approved, February 27, 1879.