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Licences not to be granted for Boats constructed to row with more than Six Oars, Penalty.
Allowance to the Officers on making Seizures.
Certain Tow Boats and other Boats not affected.
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III. And be it further enacted, That no Licence shall from and after the passing of this Act be granted by the Commissioners of His Majesty’s Customs in England or Scotland, for any Boat whatever made, built, or constructed to row with more than Six Oars; and if any such Boat belonging in the Whole or in Part to His Majesty’s Subjects, or whereof One Half of the Persons on board, are Subjects of His Majesty, shall be found within the Limits of any Port in Great Britain, or in any Part of the British or Irish Channels, or elsewhere on the High Seas within One hundred Leagues of any Part of the Coast of Great Britain or Ireland, such Boat not having been licensed previous to the passing of this Act shall be forfeited, and shall and may be seized by any Officer of the Army, Navy, or Marines, or of the Customs or Excise; and every such Officer and Officers may and he and they is and are hereby authorized and required to arrest and detain every Person being a Seaman or Sea-faring Man found on board any such Boat (not being a Passenger on board), and to convey him to any Ship or Vessel in His Majesty’s Service, or to the Custody of any Officer employed in His Majesty’s Impress Service; and any Person being such Seaman or Sea-faring Man may thereupon, if fit and able to serve His Majesty, be impressed into His Majesty’s Naval Service, and shall continue to serve therein, for the Period and under the Regulations mentioned in the said recited Act of the Forty-seventh Year of His said Majesty; and it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners of the Customs in England and Scotland respectively to direct the Officer or Officers, by whom the Persons so found on board any such Boat shall have been detained, to be paid any Sum not less than Five Pounds, and not exceeding Twenty Pounds, for each Man so detained and impressed into His Majesty’s Service: Provided, that nothing herein-before contained, as to Boats rowing with more than Six Oars, shall extend or be construed to extend to any Boat or Boats commonly called Tow Boats, used in the towing Ships and Vessels belonging to licensed Pilots within the Port and Jurisdiction of the City of Bristol, or to any Boats employed in the Service of the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies, or to any Boat employed in the Service of the Customs or Excise, or belonging to His Majesty, or to any of the Royal Family, or to any Life Boat, or any Boat used solely in Rivers or Inland Navigation, or to any square rigged Ship or Vessel employed in the Merchants Service, or to any other Merchants Ship or Vessel exceeding the Burthen of One hundred and fifty Tons.
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