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Apprehension, &c. of persons suspected to belong to the navy, and to be deserters, or improperly absent from duty.
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9. It shall be lawful for the constable of any place where any person reasonably suspected to belong to her Majesty’s navy, and to be a deserter or improperly absent from his duty, shall be found, or of any adjoining place, and if no such constable can be immediately met with to secure him, then for any person in her Majesty’s service, to apprehend or cause such suspected person to be apprehended, and cause him to be brought before any justice in the United Kingdom, or in any of her Majesty’s dominions or territories, . . . in or near such place, who shall examine such suspected person; and if by his confession, or the testimony of one or more witness or witnesses upon oath, or by the knowledge of such justice, it shall appear that any person brought before him is a person belonging to her Majesty’s navy improperly absent from his duty, such justice shall forthwith cause him to be conveyed to the nearest or most convenient public prison, and shall transmit an account thereof to the Secretary of the Admiralty, or to any commander-in-chief or officer commanding any one of her Majesty’s ships or vessels, with a description of such person and the name of the ship or vessel to which he shall or may be suspected to belong, or if any such offender shall be apprehended by any person in her Majesty’s service, or shall be apprehended in the vicinity of any one of her Majesty’s ships or vessels in commission, then such justice shall order him to be taken on board any such ship or vessel, instead of committing him to prison; and in all cases the justice shall certify the name of the person by whom the offender was apprehended, and such last-mentioned person shall be entitled to a reward for such apprehension, according to the amount which is or may be established by the naval regulations or instructions for the time being in that behalf, or in case the apprehension shall be under circumstances for which no reward is or may be established, the amount of such reward shall be any sum in the discretion of the Lord High Admiral, or the said1
Commissioners, or of the officer commanding the vessel to which the deserter or person who shall have been improperly absent shall belong, not exceeding three pounds, and the reward shall in every case be paid and charged against the wages or pay of any such offender, and stopped out of the same; and for every such information, commitment, or order and account as aforesaid the clerk of the said justice may be entitled to a fee of two shillings and no more, and every gaoler and other person into whose custody any such offender is committed shall immediately upon the receipt of him pay such fee of two shillings, and also, upon the production of a receipt from the medical practitioner who may have been required to examine such suspected person, a fee of two shillings and sixpence, and such sums shall be repaid to such gaoler or other person, and the same, together with sixpence for every day the offender shall be in his custody, which shall be paid to such gaoler or other person, shall be charged against the pay or wages of the offender; and every gaoler or other person having the custody of any such offender shall deliver him up to any person authorized to take charge of him by the Lord High Admiral, or the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, or by any naval commander-in-chief, or the officer commanding any one of her Majesty’s ships or vessels, and any person so authorized shall convey him in safe custody on board any one of her Majesty’s ships or vessels in commission.
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