10-4 LEGISLATIVE ACTS, PROCLAMATIONS, ETC., 



ACT OF 1775. 



(15 Geo. Ill, cap. 31.) 



AN ACT For the encouragement of the 6sheries carried on from Great Britain, Ireland, 

 and the British dominions in EUROPE, and for securing the return of the fisher- 

 men, sailors and others employed in the said fisheries, to the ports thereof, at the 

 end of the fishing season. 



Whereas the fisheries carried on by his Majesty's subjects of Great 

 Britain and of the British dominions in Europe have been found to 

 be the best nurseries for able and experienced seamen, always ready 

 to man the royal navy when occasions require; and it is therefore of 

 the highest national importance to give all due encouragement to 

 the said fisheries, and to endeavour to secure the annual return of 

 the fishermen, sailors and others employed therein, to the ports of 

 Great Britain, and of his Majesty's dominions before mentioned, at 

 the end of every fishing season, now, in order to promote these great 

 and important purposes, and with a view in the first place, to induce 

 his Majesty's subjects to proceed early from the ports of Great Brit- 

 ain to the banks of Newfoundland, and thereby to prosecute the 

 fishery on the said banks to the greatest advantage, may it please 

 your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's 

 most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the 

 lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parlia- 

 ment assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and 

 after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and 

 seventy six, the respective bounties hereinafter mentioned shall 

 be paid and allowed annually, for eleven years, for a certain num- 

 ber of ships or vessels employed in the British fishery on the banks 

 of Newfoundland, under the limitations and restrictions herein- 

 after expressed; that is to say, such vessels shall appear by 

 their register to be British built, and owned by his Majesty's 

 subjects residing in Great Britain or Ireland, or the Islands of Guern- 

 sey, Jersey or Man; and be of the burthen of fifty tons or upwards 

 and navigated with not less than fifteen men each three-fourths of 

 whom, besides the master, shall be his Majesty's subjects; and, in 

 other respects qualified, and subject to the same rules and restric- 

 tions, as are described by an act made in the tenth and eleventh years 

 of the reign of the late King William the third, (intituled, An Act to 

 encourage the trade to Newfoundland) and shall be fitted and 

 cleared out from some port in Great Britain after the said first day 

 of January, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, and after 

 that day in each succeeding year, and shall proceed to the banks of 

 Newfoundland; and having catched a cargo of fish upon those 

 banks consisting of not less than ten thousand fish by tale, shall 

 land the same at one of the ports on the southern or eastern side 

 of the island of Newfoundland, between Cape Ray and Cape de Grat, 

 on or before the fifteenth day of July in each year; and shall make 

 one more trip at least to the said banks, and return with another 

 cargo of fish catched there to the same port; in which case, there 

 twenty-five vessels first arriving at the said island of Newfound- 

 land from the banks thereof, with a cargo of fish catched there, 

 consisting of ten thousand fish by tale at the least, and after landing 

 the same at one of the ports within the limits before mentioned in 

 Newfoundland, shall proceed again to the said banks, and return 



