Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 1.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[197] Confederate States; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to pay or cause to be paid to the owners, officers, and crews of such private armed vessels, commissioned as aforesaid, or their agent, the bounties herein provided.

Sec. 11. That the commanding officer of every vessel having a commission, or letters of marque and reprisal, during the present hostilities between the Confederate States and the United States, shall keep a regular journal, containing a true and exact account of his daily proceedings and transactions with such vessel and the crew thereof; the ports and places he shall put into, or cast anchor in; the time of his stay there, and the cause thereof; the prizes he shall take, and the nature and probable value thereof; the times and places, when and where taken, and in what manner he shall dispose of the same; the ships or vessels he shall fall in with; the times and places, when and where he shall meet with them, and his observations and remarks thereon; also, of whatever else shall occur to him, or any of his officers or marines, or be discovered by examination or conference with any marines or passengers of, or in any other ships or vessels, or by any other means, touching the fleets, vessels and forces of the United States; their posts and places of station and destination, strength, numbers, intents and designs; and such commanding officer shall immediately on his arrival in any port of the Confederate States, from or during the continuance of any voyage or cruise, produce his commission for such vessel, and deliver up such journal, so kept as aforesaid, signed with his proper name and handwriting, to the collector or other chief officer of the customs at or nearest to such port; the truth of such journal shall be verified by the oath of the commanding officer for the time being; and such collector or other chief officer of the customs shall, immediately on the arrival of such vessel, order the proper officer of the customs to go on board and take an account of the officers and men, the number and nature of the guns, and whatever else shall occur to him on examination, material to be known; and no such vessel shall be permitted to sail out of port again until such journal shall have been delivered up, and a certificate obtained under the hand of such collector or other chief officer of the customs that she is manned and armed according to her commission; and, upon delivery of such certificate, any former certificate of a like nature which shall have been obtained by the commander of such vessel shall be delivered up.

Sec. 12. That the commanders of vessels having letters of marque and reprisal as aforesaid, neglecting to keep a journal as aforesaid, or wilfully making fraudulent entries therein, or obliterating the record of any material transactions therein, where the interest of the Confederate States is concerned, or refusing to produce and deliver such journal, commission, or certificate pursuant to the preceding section of this act, then and in such cases the commissions or letters of marque and reprisal of such vessels shall be liable to be revoked; and such commander respectively shall forfeit for every such offence the sum of $1,000, one moiety thereof for the use of the Confederate States, and the other to the informer.

Sec. 13. That the owners or commanders of vessels having letters of marque and reprisal as aforesaid, who shall violate any of the acts of congress for the collection of the revenue of the Confederate States, and for the prevention of smuggling, shall forfeit the commission or letters of marque and reprisal, and they and the vessels owned or commanded by them shall be liable to all the penalties and forfeitures attaching to merchant vessels, in like cases.

Sec. 14. That on all goods, wares, and merchandise captured and made good and lawful prizes of war, by any private armed ship having commission or letters of marque and reprisal under this act, and brought into the Confederate States, there shall be allowed a reduction of 33 1/3 per cent. on the amount of duties imposed by law.

Sec. 15. That five per centum on the net amount (after deducting all charges and expenditures) of the prize money arising from captured vessels and cargoes, and on the net amount of the salvage of vessels and cargoes recaptured by the private armed vessels of the Confederate States, shall be secured and paid over to the collector or other chief officer of the customs at the port or place in the Confederate States at which such captured or recaptured vessels may arrive, or to the consul or other public agent of the Confederate States, residing at the port or place, not within the Confederate States, at which such captured or recaptured vessels may arrive. And the moneys arising therefrom shall be held, and are hereby pledged by the government of the Confederate States as a fund for the support and maintenance of the widows and orphans of such persons as may be slain, and for the support and maintenance of such persons as may be wounded and disabled on board of the private armed vessels commissioned as aforesaid in any engagement with the enemy, to be assigned and distributed in such manner as shall hereafter be provided by law.--Charleston Mercury, May 8.