not more than one thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than three years; and such person may be tried either before or after the conviction of the principal offender.

449. Miscellaneous offenses.

Whoever, within the territorial limits of any State, organized Territory, or District, but within or upon any of the places now existing or hereafter reserved or acquired, described in section two hundred and seventy-two of this Act, shall do or omit the doing of any act or thing which is not made penal by any law of Congress, but which if committed or omitted within the jurisdiction of the State, Territory, or District in which such place is situated, by the laws thereof now in force would be penal, shall be deemed guilty of a like offense and be subject to a like punishment; and every such State, Territorial, or District law shall, for the purposes of this section, continue in force, notwithstanding any subsequent repeal or amendment thereof by any such State, Territory, or District.

450. Forgery.

Whoever shall falsely make, forge, counterfeit, or alter any instrument in imitation of, or purporting to be, an abstract or official copy or certificate of the recording, registry, or enrollment of any vessel, in the office of any collector of the customs, or a license to any vessel for carrying on the coasting trade or fisheries of the United States, or a certificate of ownership, pass, passport, sea letter, or clearance, granted for any vessel, under the authority of the United States, or a permit, debenture, or other official document granted by any collector or other officer of the customs by virtue of his office; or whoever shall utter, publish, or pass, or attempt to utter, publish, or pass, as true, any such false, forged, counterfeited, or falsely altered instrument, abstract, official copy, certificate, license, pass, passport, sea letter, clearance, permit, debenture, or other official document herein specified, knowing the same to be false, forged, counterfeited, or falsely altered, with an intent to defraud, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than three years.

451. Ill treatment of crew.

Whoever, being the master or officer of a vessel of the United States, on the high seas, or on any other waters within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, beats, wounds, or without justifiable cause, imprisons any of the crew of such vessel, or withholds from them suitable food and nourishment, or inflicts upon them any cruel and unusual punishment, shall be

fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to repeal or modify section forty-six hundred and eleven of the Revised Statutes.

452. Mutiny.

5359.

Whoever, being of the crew of a vessel of the United Sec. 292. States, on the high seas, or on any other waters within Repeals R. S., the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, endeavors to make a revolt or mutiny on board such vessel, or combines, conspires, or confederates with any other person on board to make such revolt or mutiny, or solicits, incites, or stirs up any other of the crew to disobey or resist the lawful orders of the master or other officer of such vessel, or to refuse or neglect their proper duty on board thereof, or to betray their proper trust, or assembles with others in a tumultuous and mutinous manner, or makes a riot on board thereof, or unlawfully confines the master or other commanding officer thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

5360.

Whoever, being of the crew of a vessel of the United Sec. 293. States, on the high seas, or on any other waters within Repeals R. S., the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, unlawfully and with force, or by fraud, or intimidation, usurps the command of such vessel from the master or other lawful officer in command thereof, or deprives him of authority and command on board, or resists or prevents him in the free and lawful exercise thereof, or transfers such authority and command to another not lawfully entitled thereto, is guilty of a revolt and mutiny, and shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than ten years.

453. Abandonment of seamen.

Whoever, being master or commander of a vessel of the United States, while abroad, maliciously and without justifiable cause forces any officer or mariner of such vessel on shore, in order to leave him behind in any foreign port or place, or refuses to bring home again all such officers and mariners of such vessel whom he carried out with him, as are in a condition to return and willing to return, when he is ready to proceed on his homeward voyage, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

454. Barratry.

5364.

Whoever, on the high seas, or within the United States, Sec. 296. willfully and corruptly conspires, combines, and con-Repeals R. S., federates with any other person, such other person being either within or without the United States, to cast away or otherwise destroy any vessel, with intent to injure any person that may have underwritten or may

Sec. 297.

5358.

thereafter underwrite any policy of insurance thereon or on goods on board thereof, or with intent to injure any person that has lent or advanced, or may lend or advance, any money on such vessel on bottomry or respondentia; or whoever, within the United States, builds, or fits out, or aids in building or fitting out, any vessel with intent that the same be cast away or destroyed, with the intent hereinbefore mentioned, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than ten years.

455. Wrecking.

Whoever plunders, steals, or destroys any money, goods, Repeals R. S., merchandise, or other effects, from or belonging to any vessel in distress, or wrecked, lost, stranded, or cast away, upon the sea, or upon any reef, shoal, bank, or rocks of the sea, or in any other place within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than ten years; and whoever willfully obstructs the escape of any person endeavoring to save his life. from such vessel, or the wreck thereof; or whoever holds out or shows any false light, or extinguishes any true light, with intent to bring any vessel sailing upon the sea into danger, or distress, or shipwreck, shall be imprisoned not less than ten years and may be imprisoned for life.

Sec. 298.

5361.

456. Plundering vessel.

Whoever, upon the high seas or on any other waters Repeals R. S., within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, by surprise or by open force, maliciously attacks or sets upon any vessel belonging to another, with an intent unlawfully to plunder the same, or to despoil any owner thereof of any moneys, goods, or merchandise laden on board thereof, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than ten years.

Sec. 299.

5362.

Whoever, upon the high seas or on any other waters Repeals R. S.. within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, and out of the jurisdiction of any particular State, breaks or enters any vessel, with intent to commit any felony, or maliciously cuts, spoils, or destroys any cordage, cable, buoys, buoy-rope, head-fast, or other fast, fixed to the anchor or moorings belonging to any vessel, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than five years.

Sec. 300.

5365.

Whoever, upon the high seas or on any other waters Repeals R. S., within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, willfully and corruptly casts away or otherwise destroys any vessel, of which he is owner, in whole or in part, with intent to prejudice any person that may underwrite any policy of insurance thereon, or any merchant that may have goods thereon, or any other owner of such vessel, shall be imprisoned for life or for any term of years.

Repeals R. S.,

Whoever, not being an owner, upon the high seas or on Sec. 301. any other waters within the admiralty and maritime ju- 5366, 5367. risdiction of the United States, willfully and corruptly casts away or otherwise destroys any vessel of the United States to which he belongs, or, willfully, with intent to destroy the same, sets fire to any such vessel, or otherwise attempts the destruction thereof, shall be imprisoned not more than ten years.

The words" vessel of the United States," wherever they Sec. 310. occur in this chapter, shall be construed to mean a vessel belonging in whole or in part to the United States, or any citizen thereof, or any corporation created by or under the laws of the United States, or of any State, Territory, or District thereof.

457. Crimes on the Great Lakes.

Every person who shall, upon any vessel registered or Sept. 4, 1890. enrolled under the laws of the United States, and being on a voyage upon the waters of any of the Great Lakes, namely, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Saint Clair, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, or any of the waters connecting any of the said lakes, commit or be guilty of any of the acts, neglects, or omissions, respectively, mentioned in chapter three [R. S., 5339-5391] of title seventy of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished with the same punishments in the said title and chapter, respectively affixed to the same offenses therein mentioned, respectively.

The circuit and district courts of the United States, Sec. 2. respectively, are hereby vested with the same jurisdiction in respect of the offenses mentioned in the first section of this act that they by law have and possess in respect of the offenses in said chapter and title in the first section of this act mentioned, and said courts, respectively, are also for the purpose of this act vested with all and the same jurisdiction they, respectively, have by force of title thirteen, chapter three [R. S., 563-571], and title thirteen, chapter seven [R. S., 629-657], of the Revised Statutes of the United States. [See act Mar. 4, 1909, sec. 272, par. 2, p. 468.]

PART XLIV.-PIRACY.

458. Piracy.

R. S., 4293.

R. S., 4294.

R. S., 4295.

R. S., 4296.

458. Piracy.

459. Crimes deemed piracy.

The President is authorized to employ so many of the public armed vessels as in his judgment the service may require, with suitable instructions to the commanders thereof in protecting the merchant vessels of the United States and their crews from piratical aggressions and depredations.

The President is authorized to instruct the commanders of the public armed vessels of the United States to subdue, seize, take, and send into any port of the United States, any armed vessel or boat, or any vessel or boat, the crew whereof shall be armed, and which shall have attempted or committed any piratical aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure, upon any vessel of the United States, or of the citizens thereof, or upon any other vessel; and also to retake any vessel of the United States, or its citizens, which may have been unlawfully captured upon the high seas.

The commander and crew of any merchant-vessel of the United States, owned wholly, or in part, by a citizen thereof, may oppose and defend against any aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure, which shall be attempted upon such vessel, or upon any other vessel so owned, by the commander or crew of any armed vessel whatsoever, not being a public armed vessel of some nation in amity with the United States, and may subdue and capture the same; and may also retake any vessel so owned which may have been captured by the commander or crew of any such armed vessel, and send the same into any port of the United States.

Whenever any vessel, which shall have been built, purchased, fitted out in whole or in part, or held for the purpose of being employed in the commission of any piratical aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure, or in the commission of any other act of piracy as defined by the law of nations, or from which any piratical aggression, search, restraint, depredation, or seizure shall have been first attempted or made, is captured and brought into or captured in any port of the United States, the same shall be adjudged and condemned to their use, and that of the captors after due process and trial in any