Section 21

Section 21. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no master or captain of any ship or vessel, bound to any port or place within this commonwealth, shall bring within the capes of the bay and river Delaware, or into any port or place within this commonwealth, any greater number of passengers, servants, or other persons whatsoever, than can and shall be well supplied with sufficient good and wholesome drink and meat and other necessaries, particularly vinegar, as well to wash and cleanse the vessel, as for the use of the persons on board during the voyage. And every ship or vessel so arriving at any port or place within this commonwealth, shall be allowed to bring one passenger and no more, for every two tons custom house measurement, and in such estimate two children between the ages of five and twelve years, shall be taken and considered as equal to one full passenger. And before any such ship or vessel shall obtain a certificate from the health office, the master, owner or consignee of such ship or vessel shall pay to the health officer, for the use of the board of health, the sum of one dollar for each and every passenger not citizens of the United States, reckoning two children, between the ages aforesaid, as one passenger. And in case it should be made to appear satisfactorily to the board of health, that such passengers are unable to pay the said sum of one dollar, then and in such case, the board of health shall make out a list of such passengers, together with the names of the captains and vessels in which they were imported, and forward the same under their official seal to the Governor, who shall draw his warrant on the State Treasurer, in the usual manner, for the amount so certified. And every master or captain of any ship or vessel importing passengers, servants or other persons whatsoever, shall, whenever the said passengers, servants or other persons amount to the number of one hundred, at the charge of the owner or owners of his ship or vessel, provide and employ a skilful physician, of good character, and a chest with a competent assortment of medicines, for the use and accommodation of all persons whatsoever on board his ship or vessel, and the physician so provided shall administer medicine and medicines to all sick persons on board the ship or vessel according to his best skill and judgment, as often as occasion shall require, without asking, demanding or receiving any pay or satisfaction therefor, from such sick person respectively. And the master or captain of any ship or vessel, containing the number of passengers aforesaid, shall twice in every week, if the weather will permit, during the voyage, cause the ship or vessel to be well washed with vinegar, and while the means aforesaid shall be using to cleanse the ship or vessel, the master or captain thereof may require and compel all persons not incapacitated by sickness or other reasonable cause, to come and remain on deck until such cleaning shall be performed and completed. And if any master, captain or other person, whether severally or altogether, shall, during the voyage, trust or credit any one passenger with more liquor or other articles whatsoever, than shall amount in the whole to the value of four dollars, or if more than one third part of that sum shall be for spirituous liquors, the master, captain or other person so trusting or crediting, shall be disabled from recovering any debts, for all and any such articles, from any passenger so trusted or credited. And the Lazaretto physician, port physician and health officer respectively, on visiting any ship or vessel, bound to any port or place within this commonwealth as aforesaid, shall diligently enquire whether the directions herein given have been fully complied with. And on the arrival of any vessel importing German passengers, opposite to the city of Philadelphia, the health officer shall moreover visit the same, and take with him a respectable German inhabitant of the city of Philadelphia, well versed in the English and German languages, to be his interpreter; and the said interpreter shall be appointed and commissioned by the Governor, and shall take an oath or affirmation before the mayor or any alderman of the city of Philadelphia for the time being, that he will well and faithfully interpret between the health officer and such German passengers, and in all other respects diligently and uprightly execute the duties of his appointment. And the health officer shall at least once in every week, taking with him the said interpreter, in case of a ship or vessel importing German passengers, go on board every ship or vessel having passengers, to examine whether they are and have been accommodated agreeably to the directions of this act. And the said interpreter for the first visit shall have and receive the sum of two dollars, and for every subsequent visit the sum of one dollar, to be paid by the master, captain, owner or consignee of the ship or vessel so visited. And if any master or captain of any ship or vessel shall not have provided a sufficient quantity of good and wholesome provisions, vinegar and other necessaries as aforesaid, or if he shall not have allowed a room or birth to the persons on board his ship or vessel, or if, having the number one hundred passengers as aforesaid, he shall not have provided a physician and chest of medicines, for the use and accommodation of all person on board his ship or vessel, or shall bring more than one passenger for every two tons custom house measurement, or shall have neglected during the voyage to cleanse the ship or vessel in the manner herein before in such case directed, such master or captain shall, for each and every of the foregoing offences, forfeit and pay not less than two hundred dollars, nor more than fifteen hundred dollars, to be recovered and appropriated as hereinafter provided and directed.