510.—A Table showing the Quantity of Provisions, Slop Clothing and Small Stores, for 200 men, for four months, in the U. S. Navy.

QUANTITY OF WATER FOR EACH CLASS.

Ships of the Line—Three Decks, 110,000 gallons; Two Decks—1st Class, 82,000 gals.; 2d Class, 78,000 gals.; Razees, 55,000 gals.; Frigates—32 Pounder, 48,000 gals.; 24 Pounder, 43,000 gals.; 18 Pounder, 34,900 gals.; Sloops—32 Pounder, 21,000 gals.; 24 Pounder, 19,000 gals.; Sixteen 32 lb. Carronades, 15,000 gals.; Brigs, 8,000 gals.; Brigantines and Schooners 7,900 gals.; Steamers—1st Class, 23,500 gals.; 2d Class, 10,000 gals.; 3d Class, 5,000 gals.; Receiving Vessels—Ships of the Line, 14,600 gals.

511.—Exhibit of the Navy Ration,
Showing the component parts for each day of the week, and the value at which they are to be computed, under the 2d, 4th and 5th Sections of the Act of Congress, “To establish and regulate the Navy Ration,” approved 29th August, 1842.

VALUATION OF THE WEEKLY QUANTITY, &c.

The foregoing exhibit of the component parts, &c., of the Navy Ration, has been compiled in pursuance of the act of Congress, and will be strictly observed by commanders of vessels and by pursers, as a regulation of this Department, prescribing the daily issue of provisions, and the valuation at which they are to be commuted. All persons “attached to vessels for sea-service,” are entitled individually to one ration per day.

Every commissioned or warrant-officer, of, or over, twenty-one years of age, may, at his option, commute the entire ration, or only the spirit portion of it: provided the commutation, in either case, be made for not less than three consecutive months. And every other person, of the above-named age, entitled to a ration, may commute the spirit component, under the limitation of time, unless sooner detached, or entitled to a discharge.

No officer or other person, under twenty-one years of age, shall be permitted to draw the spirit part of his ration. Its value in money, as estimated by the foregoing table, will be credited to him by the purser, and paid whenever the commander of the vessel, to which such officer or person may belong, shall direct.

The messes of a ship’s crew may, with the sanction of the commanding officer, commute, daily or weekly, one or more entire rations, for not less than three months (unless sooner detached, or entitled to a discharge); the commutation to be paid by the purser, at such times as the said commanding officer shall deem fit.

Pursers having the delivery of rations, will make out and transmit, monthly and otherwise, by the earliest opportunities, to the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing of this Department, abstracts of provisions, agreeably to such forms as may be furnished to them from that bureau, approved by the Second Comptroller of the Treasury; their provision accounts, as heretofore, will be rendered to the Fourth Auditor’s office.

A. P. UPSHUR, Secretary of the Navy.

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AND REGULATE THE NAVY RATION.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the navy ration shall consist of the following daily allowance of provisions for each person:—One pound of salted pork, with half a pint of peas or beans; or one pound of salted beef, with half a pound of flour, and a quarter of a pound of raisins, dried apples, or other dried fruits; or one pound of salt beef, with half a pound of rice, two ounces of butter, and two ounces of cheese; together with fourteen ounces of biscuit, one quarter of an ounce of tea, or one ounce of coffee, or one ounce of cocoa, two ounces of sugar, and one gill of spirits; and of a weekly allowance of half a pound of pickles or cranberries, half a pint of molasses, and half a pint of vinegar.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That fresh meat may be substituted for salt beef or pork, and vegetables or sauer-kraut for other articles usually issued with the salted meats, allowing one and a quarter pounds of fresh meat for one pound of salted beef or pork, and regulating the quantity of vegetables or sauer-kraut, so as to equal the value of those articles for which they may be substituted.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That, should it be necessary to vary the above described daily allowance, it shall be lawful to substitute one pound of soft bread, or one pound of flour, or half a pound of rice, for fourteen ounces of biscuit; half a pint of wine for a gill of spirits; half a pound of rice for half a pint of peas or beans; half a pint of beans or peas for half a pound of rice. When it may be deemed expedient by the President of the United States, Secretary of the Navy, commander of a fleet or squadron, or a single ship, when not acting under the authority of another officer on foreign service, the articles of butter, cheese, raisins, dried apples (or other dried fruits), pickles and molasses may be substituted for each other and for spirits; provided the article substituted shall not exceed in value the article for which it may be issued, according to the scale of prices which is or may be established for the same.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That in cases of necessity the daily allowance of provisions may be diminished or varied, by the discretion of the senior officer present in command; but payment shall be made to the persons whose allowance shall be thus diminished, according to the scale of prices which is or may be established for the same; but a commander, who shall thus make a diminution or variation, shall report to his commanding officer, or to the Navy Department, the necessity for the same, and give to the purser written orders, specifying particularly the diminution or reduction which is to be made.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That no commissioned officer, or midshipman, or any person under twenty-one years of age, shall be allowed to draw the spirit part of the daily ration; and all other persons shall be permitted to relinquish that part of their ration, under such restrictions as the President of the United States may authorize; and to every person who, by this section, is prohibited from drawing, or who may relinquish, the spirit part of his ration, there shall be paid, in lieu thereof, the value of the same in money, according to the prices which are or may be established for the same.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall go into effect, in the United States, on the first day of the succeeding quarter after it becomes a law; and in vessels abroad, on the first day of the succeeding quarter after its official receipt; and any acts, or parts of acts, which may be contrary to, or inconsistent with, the provisions of this act, shall be and are hereby repealed.

512.—TABLE
For finding the Distance of an Object by two Bearings, and the Distance run between them.

The Table is to be entered with the number of points contained between the ships head and the first bearing of the object, at the top, and with the number of points, reckoned the same way, between the ship’s head and the second bearing, at the side; the number in the table at the intersection of the two columns being multiplied by the distance run, is the distance from the object at the time the last bearing was taken.

If the bearings are observed to quarter points, the numbers may be taken out accordingly; this needs no example.

513.—Dimensions of the Masts and Spars of the U. S. Steam-ship Princeton.

514.—A Table of the Size of Short-link Chain, when used as Rigging.