Chapter LXXX. *making Appropriations for the Naval Service for the Year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.*Sept. 28, 1850. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the following Appropriation. sums b
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Chap. LXXX.— An Act *making Appropriations for the Naval Service for the Year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.*Sept. 28, 1850. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the following Appropriation. sums be, and they are hereby, appropriated to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
For pay of commission, warrant, and petty officers, and seamen, including Pay of officers and seamen. the engineer corps of the navy, two million seven hundred and fifty-eight thousand two hundred and sixty-two dollars; and that there be paid by the proper accounting officers to William J. McAlpine and Wm. J. McAlpine and W. P. S. Sanger. William P. S. Sanger, the same salary that was paid to their predecessors as engineers-in-chief, during the time they severally performed such service at the navy yard, Brooklyn, New York, and that the same amount of salary as is provided for the said William J.
McAlpine and William P. S. Sanger, be paid to James Herron, the engineer-in-chief James Herron. at the navy yard at Pensacola, during the time he has been employed at said yard. For pay of superintendents, naval constructors, and all the civil establishments Superintendents, constructors, &c. at the several navy yards and stations, seventy-three thousand nine hundred and sixty dollars. To equalize the salary of the clerk of the naval constructor at Kittery Clerk at Kittery. with those at other navy yards, two hundred and fifty dollars.
For provisions for commission, warrant, and petty officers and seamen, Provisions. including engineers and marines attached to vessels for sea service, six hundred and eighty-six thousand two hundred dollars: *Provided,*Proviso. That so much of the “act making appropriations for the naval service for the half calendar year beginning the first day of January, 1843, ch. 83. and ending the thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and forty-three, and for the fiscal year beginning the first day of July, eighteen hundred and forty-three, and ending the thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and forty-four, approved the third March, eighteen hundred and forty-three, as requires the Secretary of the Navy to advertise once a week, for at least four weeks, for proposals for the transportation of supplies for the use of the navy, be, and the same hereby is, repealed, and that hereafter such advertisements shall be made for a period of not less than five days.
For surgeons’ necessaries and appliances for the sick and hurt of the Surgeons’ necessaries. navy, including marine corps, thirty-six thousand eight hundred dollars. For repair of vessels in ordinary, and for wear and tear of vessels in Repairs, hemp, &c. commission, including fuel for steamers, and the purchase of American water-rotted hemp, to be bought by the Secretary of the Navy in open market: *Provided,* That *that* the price of the American hemp shall notProviso.514 exceed the average price of the foreign article, for the last five years, one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
And that the Secretary of the Navy be authorized to examine into For making examinations of the various condensers for supplying marine engines with fresh water. the merits of the various condensers for supplying the boilers of marine engines with fresh water, and that he report to this House, at its next session, the result of said examination, together with his opinion as to the value of the best of said condensers to the government of the United States, and that the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to carry into effect this provision.
For meteorological observations, to be conducted under the direction Meteorological observations. of the Secretary of the Navy, two thousand dollars. For ordnance, and ordnance stores, and small arms, including incidental Ordnance and ordnance stores. expenses, one hundred and ninety-six thousand nine hundred dollars. For the purchase and repair of nautical instruments of the hydrographical Nautical instruments. office, ten thousand five hundred dollars. For the purchase of books, maps, and charts for the hydrographical Books, maps, and charts. office, four thousand one hundred and twenty-five dollars.
For backing and binding the same, and for printing and publishing Binding and printing. hydrographical surveys and astronomical observations, four thousand six hundred dollars. For models, drawings, copying, postage, stationery, freight and transportation; Miscellaneous expenses of hydrographical office and national observatory. for pay of lithographer, and for working lithographic press, including chemicals; for planting trees, sodding, and keeping grounds and buildings in order; for pay of porter, gardener, watchman, and instrument maker; for fuel and lights of the hydrographical office and national observatory, eight thousand four hundred and ten dollars.
For copying abstracts from old sea journals for the wind and current Copying sea journals, engraving and publishing wind and current charts, &c. charts, and for continuing the engraving and publication of the same, including cost of copper, stones, chemicals, paper, &c., in the national observatory, seven thousand five hundred dollars. For improvement and repair of buildings and grounds of the naval Buildings of naval school. school at Annapolis, twenty-eight thousand two hundred dollars.
For contingent expenses that may accrue for the following purposes, Contingent expenses. viz.: freight and transportation, printing and stationery, advertising in newspapers; books, maps, models, and drawings; purchase and repair of fire-engines and machinery, and a patent right to use the same; repair of and attending on steam-engines in yards; purchase and maintaining of horses and oxen, and driving teams; carts, timber wheels, and the purchase and repair of workman’s tools, postage of public letters, furniture for government houses, fuel, oil and candles, for navy yards and store stations, cleaning and clearing up yards; watchmen and incidental labor not chargeable to any other appropriation; labor attending on the delivery of stores and supplies on foreign stations; wharfage, dockage, and rent, travelling expenses of officers, funeral expenses, store and office rent, stationery and fuel to navy agents and storekeepers, flags, awnings and packing cases, premiums and other expenses of recruiting, apprehending deserters, per diem pay to persons attending courts-martial and courts of inquiry, and other services authorized by law, pay to judge advocates, pilotage and towage of vessels, and assistance rendered to vessels in distress, five hundred and thirty-two thousand one hundred and forty-five dollars.
For transportation of the United States mail between New York and Transportation of U. S. mail in steamers. Liverpool, between New York and New Orleans, Havana and Chagres, and between Panama and some points in the Territory of Oregon, eight hundred and seventy-four thousand six hundred dollars: *Provided,*Proviso. That no payment shall be made for said services, except in proportion to the mail service heretofore performed, or that may be hereafter performed; and that the Secretary of the Navy is hereby directed to make 515 payment in said proportion only: *Provided,* That flogging in the Abolition of flogging in the navy and merchant service. navy, and on board vessels of commerce, be, and the same is hereby, abolished from and after the passage of this act.
And that no midshipman in the navy shall be appointed from any Appointment of midshipmen. congressional district, having at the time of appointment more than two officers of that grade in the navy from such district: and whenever an appointment shall be made from any State, the person so appointed shall be an actual resident of the congressional district from which the appointment purports to be made: *And provided, further,*Proviso. that such congressional district of any State, as may not have any midshipmen in the navy at the time an appointment may be made from said State, shall be entitled to at least one appointment before any other shall be made from any district of the State having one or more officers of that grade in the navy.
For preparing for publication the American Nautical Almanac, American Nautical Almanac.Proviso as to the meridian. twelve thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars: *Provided,* That hereafter the meridian of the observatory at Washington shall be adopted and used as the American meridian for all astronomical purposes, and that the meridian of Greenwich shall be adopted for all nautical purposes. And the Secretary of the Navy is hereby directed, in making contracts Secretary of the navy directed, in making contracts and purchases, to give the preference, other things being equal, to productions of the U.
States. and purchases of articles for naval purposes, to give the preference, all other things (including price and quality) being equal, to articles of the growth, production, and manufacture of the United States; and that in the article of fuel for the navy, or naval stations and yards, the Secretary of the Navy shall have power to discriminate and purchase, in such manner as he may deem proper, that kind of fuel which is best adapted to the purpose for which it is to be used.
And the pay of the superintendent of the naval school at Annapolis Fuel.Pay of Superintendent of naval school. shall be at the rate allowed to an officer of his rank, when in service at sea. For constructions, extension, and completion of the following objects, Constructions and contingencies at navy yards. and for contingent repairs at the several navy yards, viz.: *At Portsmouth, N. H.*—For brick stables, lime-house, coal-house, Portsmouth. filling in wharf east of bridge, filling in wharf east of timber-shed, machinery and tools for smithery, and for repairs of all kinds, thirty-one thousand six hundred and seventy-three dollars. *At Boston.*—For storehouse on number thirty-six, stone skids in Boston. timber-shed number thirty-three, stone skids in timber-shed number thirty-eight, paving in front and rear of carpenters and joiners shops, completing sail loft and cordage-store, mastmakers shed, N.
Pedrick’s patent fliers, drains between timber-sheds, and repairs of all kinds, one hundred and eight thousand five hundred dollars. *At New York.*—For one officer’s house, one work and machine New York. shop; quay walls, dredging channels, sewer from city drain, house on gun block, removing coffer dam and dredging in front of dock, and for repairs of all kinds, one hundred and nineteen thousand five hundred dollars. *At Philadelphia.*—For extending wharves number one, two, and Philadelphia. four, extending ways in ship-house G, moving ship-house F, and extending ways, two culverts and moving shears, raising roof of smithery, raising roof of timber-shed five, filling up old timber dock, iron railing front of officers’ houses, and for repairs of all kinds, eighty thousand and ninety-three dollars: and the pay of the engineer, Ward B.
Burnett, at the navy yard, Philadelphia, be two thousand three hundred and fifty dollars, commencing at the time of his appointment on the first day of February, eighteen hundred and forty-nine. *At Washington.*—For a building and machinery for a copper rolling Washington. establishment, and for repairs of all kinds, fifty-one thousand three hundred dollars. 516 *At Norfolk.*—For storehouse number nineteen and gateway, wall Norfolk. across timber dock, completing engine-house to smithery and machinery, iron pipes to cisterns, magazine at Fort Norfolk, magazine keeper’s house, filling in space enclosed by quay walls, filling low grounds, making streets in yard, digging out timber dock, and for repairs of all kinds, sixty-two thousand five hundred dollars. *At Pensacola.*—For extending permanent wharf, dredging, towards Pensacola. timber-shed, coal-house, extension of wharf and rail tracks near number twenty-six, lime-house, muster-house, and office for the clerk of the yard, and for repairs of all kinds, one hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven hundred dollars. *At Memphis.*—For completing the following works, viz.: excavation Memphis. and embankment, ropewalk and boiler-house, saw-mill, one wing of stone house, blacksmith’s shop, joiner’s shop, taring-house, offices, commandant’s house, machinery for saw-mill; and for constructing a hemp-house, house for fire-engine, cisterns, pavements, drains, and ditches, and for repairs of all kinds, one hundred and thirty-four thousand dollars. *At Sackett’s Harbor.*—For fences and repairs of all kinds, seven Sackett’s Harbor. hundred dollars.
For hospitals, viz.:Hospitals. *At Boston.*—For repairing, whitewashing fences, walls, painting, Boston. glazing, repairs of roads, &c., one thousand dollars. *At New York.*—For paving, grading, completing sewers, wall and New York. fence round burying-ground, and current repairs, sixteen thousand dollars. *At Pensacola.*—For general repairs, one thousand seven hundred Pensacola. and fifty dollars. For magazines, viz.:Magazines. At Boston, one hundred and fifty dollars.Boston.
At New York, five hundred dollars.New York. At Washington, one hundred and fifty dollars.Washington. For completing the stone dry dock at New York, one hundred and Dry docks.New York. eighty thousand dollars. For completing the floating dry dock at Kittery, Maine, three hundred At Kittery. thousand dollars. For completing the floating dry dock at Philadelphia, three hundred At Philadelphia. and seventy-one thousand two hundred and forty-two dollars. For completing the floating dry dock at Pensacola, four hundred and At Pensacola. fourteen thousand three hundred and twenty dollars.
For commencing the construction of a floating dry dock on the coast On the coast of California. of California, one hundred thousand dollars; and the Secretary of the Navy is authorized to enter into a contract for the construction, with Sectional or balance floating dry dock to be constructed at such harbor on the Pacific as the Secretary of the Navy may direct.Proviso. all reasonable despatch, of a sectional, or balance floating dry dock, basin, and railway, at such harbor on the coast of the Pacific Ocean as he may select, of a capacity and dimensions in no respect inferior to those of the dry dock in progress of construction at Pensacola: *Provided,* That by granting the said contractors permission if required to prepare the materials chiefly at some harbor on the Atlantic seaboard, and advancing moneys thereon, as the works progress, the said works can be completed at a sum not exceeding by more than twelve per cent. the total amount contracted to be paid for the floating dock, basin, and railway at the Pensacola navy yard, with the addition thereto of what would be the cost of transportation to said coast of the said materials thus prepared, and with the reservation till the works are done of ten per cent., and the usual surety for the faithful performance of the contract; and the Secretary of the Navy shall also be authorized to enter into an agreement with the contractors, if they will keep the said works in repair, and take proper care of the same, for any given period of years, free of charge to the government, to permit them to 517THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Ch. 81. 1850. use the said works, during such period, on their own account, for repairing merchant vessels, when not occupied by vessels of the navy, to which precedence shall at all times be given, on such terms as he shall deem reasonable. The sum of five hundred dollars for suitable plans of the buildings, Plans of buildings at the naval depot of New Orleans. and requisite improvements at the naval depot near New Orleans, that said plans be procured and furnished under the direction of senior naval officer resident or stationed at New Orleans. *Marine Corps.*—For pay of officers, non-commissioned officers, musicians, Pay of officers, marines, subsistence, and clothing. privates, and servants, serving on shore, subsistence for officers, and pay for undrawn clothing, two hundred and fifty-three thousand four hundred and six dollars and seven cents.
For provisions for marines serving on shore, twenty thousand dollars.Provisions. For clothing, forty-six thousand four hundred and sixteen dollars.Clothing. For fuel, ten thousand dollars.Fuel. For military stores, repair of arms, pay of armorers, accoutrements, Military stores, etc. ordnance stores, flags, drums, fifes, and musical instruments, six thousand nine hundred dollars. For transportation of officers and troops, and expenses of recruiting, Transportation. nine thousand dollars.
For repairs of barracks, and rent of temporary barracks and offices Barracks and repairs. for commanding officers, six thousand dollars. For contingencies, viz.: freight, ferriage, carriage, wharfage, compensation Contingencies. to judges advocate per diem, for attending courts-martial, courts of inquiry, and for constant labor, house rent in lieu of quarters, burial of deceased marines, printing, stationery, forage, postage, pursuit of deserters, candles, oil, straw, furniture, bed-sacks, spades, axes, shovels, picks, carpenters tools, keep of a horse for the messenger, pay of matron, washerwoman, and porter at the hospital headquarters, twenty thousand dollars.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That the Secretary of the Navy Wreck of the “Missouri,” in the harbor of Gibraltar. is authorized, should he deem it practicable to employ such part of the naval force as may be necessary, to remove the wreck of the steam-frigate Missouri lying in the harbor of Gibraltar. Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That the Secretary of the Navy Salvage for the “Water Witch.” be, and is hereby authorized, if he deems it advisable to submit the demands of the claimants for salvage on the United States vessel Waterwich, to the arbitration of the judge of the District Court of the United States in the southern district of Florida.
Approved, September 28, 1850.