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Penalty on Subjects (not being Passengers only) found on board Vessels liable to Forfeiture, or assisting in unshipping or concealing Spirits, &c. Treble the Value of the Goods, or tool.
Such Persons may be taken before a Justice near the Port to which the Ship is brought; to be baited or committed;
or if desirons of entering into Navy or Marines, may be taken before Officers and entered for Five Years, &c.
Officers discharging such Persons shall be cathiered.
Persons entering, &c. acquitted from Penalty.
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VII. And be it further enacted, That every Person being a Subject of His Majesty, who shall be found or taken on board, or discovered to have been on board any Ship, Vessel, or Boat, liable to Forfeiture under any of the Provisions of this Act, or liable to Forfeiture under the Provisions of any other Act or Acts, for being found, or having been at Anchor, or hovering within any such Distances of any of the Dominions of His Majesty, with such Goods on board, as subject such Ship, Vessel, or Boat, or Goods, to Forfeiture, and who shall not prove that he was only a Passenger on board such Ship, Vessel, or Boat, and every Person found aiding or assisting in unshipping to be laid on Land, or found carrying, conveying, concealing, or assisting in the carrying away, conveying, or concealing, any Foreign Brandy, Rum, Geneva, or Spirits, subject to Forfeiture under this Act, or any Law or Act relating to the Revenue of Customs or Excise, in the United Kingdom, shall forfeit for every such Offence either Treble the Value of the Goods that shall be found or taken from such Person or Persons, or the Sum of One hundred Pounds, at the Option and subject to the Election and Discretion of the Commissioners of Customs or Excise respectively, who shall direct any Prosecution or Suit to be commenced against any such Person, such Penalty of Treble the Value, or of One hundred Pounds, as the Case may be, to be recovered as any like Penalty may be recovered under any Act or Acts relating to the Revenue of Customs or Excise in the United Kingdom, and One Half of every such Penalty of Treble Value, or of One hundred Pounds, shall go and be applied to the Use of the Person or Persons finding and taking, and detaining such Person, or informing for the same, and such Person shall also be liable to such other Punishment as may by any Law or Act of Parliament be inflicted on any such Offender; and it shall be lawful for any Officer or Officers of the Army, Navy, Marines, Customs, or Excise, and he and they is and are hereby authorized, empowered, and required to stop, arrest, and detain every such Person, being a Subject of His Majesty, and to convey the said Person before One or more of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace residing near to the Port or Place into which such Ship, Vessel, or Boat shall be taken or carried, or near to the Place where any such Person shall be so taken or arrested; and it shall be lawful for such Justice or Justices of the Peace, and he and they is and are hereby required, upon Proof on Oath by One or more credible Witness or Witnesses, that such Person was so found or taken, or discovered as aforesaid, unless any such Person found or taken, or having been on board of any such Ship, Vessel, or Boat, shall prove to the Satisfaction of such Justice that he was only a Passenger on board such Ship, Vessel, or Boat, to hold such Person to Bail, with Two good and sufficient Sureties, in the Sum of One hundred Pounds each, for the Appearance of such Person, to answer to any Indictment or Information that may be brought against him in that Behalf, and to pay such Penalty, and abide any Judgement for any such Offence; and in Default of any such Person finding such good and sufficient Bail as aforesaid, or until the same shall be found, to commit such Person to any Gaol or Prison, or House of Correction, to answer as aforesaid: Provided nevertheless, that if any such Person so found or discovered, and taken as aforesaid, shall be capable and desirous of entering and serving as a Seaman or Marine in any of His Majesty’s Ships of War, it shall be lawful for the Officer or Officers of the Army, Navy, or Marines, or of the Customs or Excise, by whom such Person was taken, arrested, and detained as aforesaid, or for any Justice of the Peace or Magistrate before whom any such Person may be carried, and such Officer and Officers is and are hereby authorized, empowered, and required, instead of taking such Person before any Justice or Magistrate, and such Justice or Magistrate is hereby authorized, instead of holding any such Person to Bail, to carry and convey, or cause to be carried or conveyed such Person on board any of His Majesty’s Ships of War, in order to his being entered and received as a Seaman or Marine; and such Person being so entered and received, shall not on any Account be discharged from His Majesty’s Service during the Term of Five Years, and from thence until the Conclusion of any War in which His Majesty may be engaged at the Period of the Expiration of such Five Years, unless disabled within that Time by unavoidable Accident or bodily Infirmity; and any Officer of His Majesty’s Navy or Marines, who shall presume, knowingly and wilfully, to discharge any Person so entered and received as aforesaid contrary to this Act, or shall by false Muster or Certificate, or in Consideration of a Gratuity of any Kind, or by any other collusive or evasive Ways or Means whatsoever, suffer or permit any such Person to avoid the actual Service hereby intended, every such Officer shall, on Conviction for any such Offence, either by any Court Martial, or on any Information filed by His Majesty’s Attorney General, be cashiered: Provided always, that no Person so taken, arrested, or detained, and entering as a Seaman, shall be liable to forfeit any such Penalty of Treble Value, or One hundred Pounds as aforesaid, unless such Person shall thereafter desert His Majesty’s Service, or quit the same without being duly discharged.
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