]
Be it therefore enacted, that every ship or trading vessel which is
intended for the negro trade, with the name of the owner or owners
thereof, shall be entered and registered as ships trading to the West
Indies are by law to be registered, with the further provisions
following:
[Sidenote: Measured and surveyed.]
1. The same entry and register shall contain an account of the greatest
number of negroes of all descriptions which are proposed to be taken
into the said ship or trading vessel; and the said ship, before she is
permitted to be entered outwards, shall be surveyed by a ship-carpenter,
to be appointed by the collector of the port from which the said vessel
is to depart, and by a surgeon, also appointed by the collector, who
hath been conversant in the service of the said trade, but not at the
time actually engaged or covenanted therein; and the said carpenter and
surgeon shall report to the collector, or in his absence, to the next
principal officer of the port; upon oath, (which oath the said collector
or principal officer is hereby empowered to administer,) her
measurement, and what she contains in builder's tonnage, and that she
has ---- feet of grated portholes between the decks, and that she is
otherwise fitly found as a good transport vessel.
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