Chapter 255. To amend section forty-one hundred and thirty-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, to improve the merchant-marine engineer service and thereby also to increase the efficiency of the Naval Reserve, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 255.— An Act To amend section forty-one hundred and thirty-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, to improve the merchant-marine engineer service and thereby also to increase the efficiency of the Naval Reserve, and for other purposes.May 28, 1896. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That section forty-one hundred Shipping. and thirty-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States be amended so as to read as follows:
" “Sec. 4131. Vessels registered pursuant to law and no others, except Vessels of the United States defined. R. S., sec. 4131, p. 795, amended. Vol. 18, p. 30; Vol. 23, p. 53. such as shall be duly qualified according to law for carrying on the coasting or fishing trade, shall be deemed vessels of the United States, and entitled to the benefits and privileges appertaining to such vessels; but no such vessel shall enjoy such benefits and privileges longer than it shall continue to be wholly owned by a citizen or citizens of the United States or a corporation created under the laws of any of the States thereof, and be commanded by a citizen of the United States.
And all the officers of vessels of the United States who shall have All officers to be citizens. charge of a watch, including pilots, shall in all cases be citizens of the United States. The word “officers” shall include the chief engineer and each assistant engineer in charge of a watch on vessels propelled wholly or in part by steam; and after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, no person shall be qualified to hold a license as a commander or watch officer of a merchant vessel of the United States who is not a native-born citizen, or whose naturalization as a citizen shall not have been fully completed.”" Sec. 2.
That all licenses issued to such officers shall be for a term of Licenses to be for five years. five years, but the holder of a license may have the same renewed for another five years at any time before its expiration: *Provided, however,**Proviso.* Renewal when abroad. That any officer holding a license, and who is engaged in a service which necessitates his continuous absence from the United States, may make 189FIFTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Chs. 255, 256. 1896. application in writing for one renewal and transmit the same to the board of local inspectors with a statement of the applicant verified before a consul, or other officer of the United States authorized to administer an oath, setting forth the reasons for not appearing in person; and upon receiving the same the board of local inspectors that originally issued such license shall renew the same for one additional term of such license, and shall notify the applicant of such renewal.
And in all cases where the issue is the suspension or revocation of such Examinations in cases of suspension, etc. R. S., secs. 4450, 4452, p. 861. licenses, whether before the local boards of inspectors as provided for in section forty-four hundred and fifty of the Revised Statutes, or before the supervising inspector as provided for in section forty-four hundred and fifty-two of the Revised Statutes, the accused shall be allowed to appear by counsel and to testify in his own behalf.
No master, mate, pilot, or engineer of steam vessels licensed under Exemption from draft. R. S., Title LII, p. 852. Wages for naval service. title fifty-two of the Revised Statutes shall be liable to draft in time of War, except for the performance of duties such as required by his license; and, while performing such duties in the service of the United States, every such master, mate, pilot, or engineer shall be entitled to the highest rate of wages paid in the merchant marine of the United States for similar services; and, if killed or wounded while performing Pensions, etc. such duties under the United States, they, or their heirs, or their legal representatives shall be entitled to all the privileges accorded to soldiers and sailors serving in the Army and Navy, under the pension laws of the United States.
Sec. 3. That all laws or parts of laws in conflict with this Act are Repeal. Filling accidental vacancies abroad. Vol. 23, p. 53. hereby repealed. But this shall not be construed to modify or repeal that provision of the Act of June twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, which reads as follows: “In cases where on a foreign voyage, or on a voyage from an Atlantic to a Pacific port of the United States, any such vessel is for any reason deprived of the services of an officer below the grade of master, his place, or a vacancy caused by the promotion of another officer to such place, may be supplied by a person not a citizen of the United States until the first return of such vessel to its home port; and such vessel shall not be liable to any penalty or penal tax for such employment of an alien officer.
” Approved, May 28, 1896.