At a meeting of the committee of ship-owners of the port of London, at Wills' Coffee-house, 12th September, 1805:

Mr. WILLIAM CURLING in the Chair:

Resolved, THAT an application be made to the honourable the directors of the West-India dock company, requesting that they will permit the new buildings on the south side of the docks to be used for warehousing sugars, as it will afford. greater dispatch in the discharge of the homeward-bound ships, and avoid the delay and inconvenience which will otherwise take place.

Resolved, That the secretary do transmit the above resolution to Mr. Marsham, requesting him to lay the same. before the directors.

The secretary read the draft memorial to the lords commissioners of the treasury respecting the seizure of the boats belonging to ships in the merchants' service, viz.

To the Right Hon. the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury.

The memorial of the committee of ship-owners for the port of London, in behalf of themselves and other owners of British ships,

Humbly sheweth,

THAT by certain acts of parliament respectively passed in the 24th, 27th, 28th, and 34th years of his present majesty's reign, certain boats therein mentioned and described are in certain cases subject to seizure and forfeiture, unless such boats shall be built and constructed upon the plan and be of the dimensions particularly set forth in the same acts; (that is to say) "unless such boats shall have planks of three quarters of an inch thick, and her timbers one inch and a half square, and not more than nine inches from timber to timber."

That by the said acts, it is among other things enacted, "That if any cutter, lugger, shallop, wherry, smack, yawl, or boat, belonging in the whole or in part to any of his majesty's subjects, shall be found or discovered to have been within the limits of any of the ports of this kingdom, or within the distance of four leagues, or within the distance

in the said act particularly described, having on board any arms or ammunition whatever, except by licence from the lord high admiral or the commissioners of the admiralty for the time being as thereinafter mentioned; every such cutter, lugger, shallop, wherry, smack, yawl, or boat shall be forfeited, together with all the goods (if any) which shall be Inden therein, and all her guns, tackle, and furniture, and the same shall and may be seized by any officer or officers of the custom or excise: Provided always, That this act shall not extend, or be construed to extend, to any ship or vessel on a voyage from any part of America, or the East or West Indies, or Africa, or the Mediterranean, so as to subject the same to forfeiture for having spirits, tea, coffee, or tobacco or snuff on board; nor to forfeit any cutter, lugger, shallop, wherry, smack, yawl, or boat belonging to or employed in the service of his majesty's navy, victualling-office, ordnance, customs, excise, or post-office, nor to any such vessel as aforesaid, or lighter, which shall be used solely on any rivers, canals, or inland navigations, nor to any cutter, lugger, shallop, wherry, smack, yawl, or boat whatever, the owner of which shall have a licence from the lord high admiral of Great Britain, or the commissioners of the admiralty for the time being, or any person authorised by them to grant the same, such licence being obtained and entered agreeable to the recited act of the twenty-fourth year of his present majesty, and being actually on board such cutter, lugger, shallop, wherry, smack, yawl, or boat at the time of her being detained or examined by any officer or officers of the customs or excise, and produced to him or them on demand during such detention or examination, nor to subject to forfeiture any ship or vessel for having arms or ammunition on board which shall have been regularly entered and cleared at any customhouse in any of his majesty's dominions as mercandize, or for the use of his majesty's stores or garrisons, and which shall be regularly stowed in the hold of such ship or vessel; nor to forfeit any cutter, lugger, shallop, wherry, smack, yawl, or boat which shall bona fide be wholly and solely employed in the cod, herring, mackarel, or other fisheries carried on from Great Britain, and shall have on board a sufficient quantity of hooks and lines, or nets, for properly carrying on the said fisheries respectively, and shall clear out at some port in Great Britain for such fisheries respectively."

That in consequence of the said acts, or some of them, many boats belonging to the ships of your petitioners, and other British ship-owners engaged in the merchants' service, have been seized by the officers of his majesty's customs, for being constructed otherwise than according to the regulations mentioned in the said acts.

That your memorialists have, in consequence of the operation of the said acts, been put to very great and serious inconveniences and expences by the seizure of their boats, which, if constructed according to the direction of the said act, would not be of any service to the crews of merchants' ships, who require boats built according to the construction of the boats of your petitioners, which have been seized as before stated.

That if they were built in any other manner, they would not answer the general purposes in the merchants' service for which they are used.

That when a licence is obtained under these acts, it does not afford protection from seizure, unless it is actually kept on board the said open boats which are employed in the general service of the ships to which they belong, and not in any other manner; and it is not usual to keep any person on board of these open boats, unless when so employed; it is therefore both inconvenient and unsafe to leave such licences in those boats.

Your memorialists, therefore, humbly hope your lordships will be pleased to take the preceding circumstances into your lordships' consideration, and to direct that the boats belonging to ships in the merchants' service, not being armed, may be exempt from the operation of the beforementioned acts, and not be liable to seizure from not being constructed according to the provisions of the said acts, and that the owners thereof shall not be compellable to take out licences for such boats in future; or that your lordships will be pleased to make such order in the case as to your lordships shall

seem meet.

*

And your memorialists will ever pray. Resolved, That the said petition be agreed to, and transmitted by the secretary to the secretaries of the treasury. (Signed) W. CURLING, Chairman.

* Presented in Sept. 1805, and referred to the commissioners of the customs to report thereon.

At a meeting of the committee of ship-owners for the port of London, at Wills' Coffee-house, 26th of September, 1805:

Mr. GALILEE in the Chair:

THE Secretary read the Pilotage Bill, which was gone through clause by clause; and some alterations being made therein, he was ordered to write to Sir Charles Price thereon. (Signed) S. GALILEE, Chairman.

Letter to Sir Charles Price, Bart. in pursuance of the preceding

Resolution.

DEAR SIR, Austin Friars, 31st Dec. 1805. I HAVE to apologize for not having transmitted to you earlier the sentiments of the committee of ship-owners of the port of London on the Bill for the better Regulation of Pilots, &c. but my absence from town prevented me. The committee instruct me to request you to communicate to Mr. Rose the very high sense they entertain of his attention to the interest of British ship-owners, and they flatter themselves, that, under the auspices of the present administration, they may look forward to an amelioration of the very great charges and expences imposed upon them in the port of London.

With respect to the Pilotage Bill, they approve of its principle; but they beg leave to suggest to you, for the consideration of Mr. Rose, some few alterations in it which are marked in the margin of the printed copy of the bill inclosed if, contrary to their expectations, there should be any objections to the alterations proposed, the committee hope they will be afforded an opportunity of being heard in support of them, previous to the bill being resumed in the house, as they are very desirous of avoiding even the appearance of any opposition to the measure.

I am likewise directed to desire you will inform Mr. Rose of a very serious inconvenience which has often been felt by the owners of British ships frequenting the port of London: I mean in those instances where their ships have sustained damage in the river Thames, by foreign vessels running foul of them: as the court of admiralty has not any jurisdiction in such cases, they are therefore left without any remedy whatever if the foreign ship proceeds to sea; and

in case she does not, their only redress is an action at law against the captain of the foreign vessel, who may be, perhaps, not possessed of any property whatever; and then he may leave the kingdom before final judgment can be obtained in the action which may be brought against him.

In an instance which recently occurred, where a ship, coal laden, was run down and entirely lost opposite Purfleet; the owner of the collier, and who was the master, applied to his proctor on the occasion, who obtained a warrant to detain the foreign ship, which he did; but, on bail being put in, in order to release her, it was found the court of admiralty had no jurisdiction, the accident not having happened on the high seas. The suit in that court was therefore abandoned, and an application (founded upon an affidavit, stating the facts of the case, and that the accident arose solely from the improper conduct of the master of the foreign ship, and that he was about to leave the kingdom) was made to Mr. Justice for a special order to hold the master of the foreign ship to bail for the value of the collier and cargo, about 25007., and which, after great consideration, and seemingly much hesitation, his lordship consented to; but then, only to hold him to bail for 1000 /* Under these circumstances, it has been thought by several well-informed persons, that if the jurisdiction of the court of admiralty could be extended to embrace accidents like these, which occur very frequently in the river Thames, from the great number of foreign ships using the port of London, it will be a public benefit, confining the jurisdiction of that court, in that respect, to the case of foreign vessels.

You will therefore, Sir, particularly oblige, by mentioning this suggestion to Mr. Rose, as it is thought a clause to that effect may, with propriety, subject to the approbation of Sir William Scott, be introduced into the Pilotage Bill.

I am, dear Sir,

Your obliged and faithful servant,
(Signed) NAT. ATCHESON.

To Sir Charles Price, Bart.

&c. &c.

In the case referred to, the owner of the collier recovered the value of his ship and cargo, but the bail only paid the 1000/. and costs, the captain of the foreign vessel having left the kingdom; and the plaintiff has been obliged to send an authority abroad to sue him for the remainder of the damages.