Discharges.

yard, or station, or to any prize or hospital, the Commanding Officer of the vessel, navy yard, or station from which he goes shall take care that he is accompanied by his account, signed by himself and the Paymaster, specifying the date of his entry, the period and term of service, the sums paid, the balance due, and the quality in which he was rated; and also by a complete descriptive transcript, and clothes list, and whether or not he is entitled to an honorable discharge.

1054..Officers having men sent to them without their accounts will report immediately to the Secretary of the Navy the names and rates of such men, and all other information which can be obtained, and which may be necessary to enable the Department to ascertain the name of the Officer who has been guilty of this violation of law.

SECTION 2.-Discharges.

1055..Persons enlisted for the naval service, and serving on board vessels within the United States, may be discharged by the written order of the Commanding Officer of a vessel acting singly, of a squadron, or of a station, for either of the following reasons, but not otherwise, except by the authority of the Department: Expiration of service, sentence of a general or summary court-martial, or unfit ness for service from causes ascertained by survey to have existed prior to enlistment.

1056..Persons claiming to be legally entitled to their discharge, on the score of being minors or aliens, must apply to the courts having cognizance of such cases.

1057..No person enlisted for the naval service shall be discharged while absent from the United States, except by order of the Secretary of the Navy, or by the sentence of a general court-martial: Provided, however, that upon the expiration of the term of his enlistment, any person whose detention on board may not "be very essential to the public interests" may be discharged upon his own request in writing, by order of the Commander-in-Chief or of the senior officer present; and the fact that the request was so made shall be stated on the face of the discharge. Whenever a discharge shall be given for any of the reasons above mentioned, a report of all the circumstances shall be made to the Navy Department, and

Honorable Discharges.

information shall be given to the nearest Consul of the United States, that he may regulate his conduct toward the person so discharged, with a full knowledge of the facts.

1058..Every discharge paper, whether honorable or otherwise, issued to a person of the Navy, must contain upon its face or back (see forms 22 and 23) a full and complete descriptive list of the individual to whom it is given.

1059.. Petty officers appointed by the Commanding Officer, or with his approval, shall not be discharged before the expiration of the term for which they agreed to serve, except by sentence of a courtmartial, by order of superior authority, or for good and sufficient reasons, of which the Commanding Officer will be the judge. The latter will never authorize such discharges for the purpose of avoiding a court-martial, nor unless he is satisfied that the public interests will not be injured thereby.

1060..A Yeoman shall in no case be discharged during the continuance of the cruise for which he engaged to serve, until his accounts shall have been examined and the stores under his charge accounted for.

1061..A Yeoman is not to be discharged at the expiration of a cruise until his accounts have been audited and approved by the Commandant of the yard, as required by the Ordnance and other instructions. If found correct, the Commandant of the yard will then give him a discharge; but if not so found, that officer is at once to make to the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, or to the Bureau of Ordnance, as the case may require, a statement of deficiencies, covering their amounts, and of any circumstances which may have come to his knowledge attending them, for the decision of the Department.

SECTION 3.-Honorable Discharges.

1062..Commanding Officers of vessels will deliver to their successors a list of such three-years men as are entitled to honorable discharges, and when any such men are transferred to a hospital, to a station, to any other vessel, or to any other duty, such lists shall always accompany their transfer. Officers receiving men without such lists will immediately report the fact to the Bureau of Equip

Honorable Discharges.

ment and Recruiting, with the name of the officer who transferred the men in violation of this regulation.

1063..Commanding Officers, upon returning from a cruise, when directed to discharge the whole or any part of the crew, will furnish to those petty officers and others of inferior rating, who enlisted for three years, and who, in their judgment, are, on being discharged, entitled to it as a testimonial of fidelity and obedience, an honorable discharge, and forward immediately to the Secretary of the Navy returns of the names and descriptions of those to whom it has been given.

1064.. Blanks for the honorable discharges, and the returns in relation to them, will be furnished by the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, and great care is hereby enjoined as to the filling up of both completely and accurately.

1065..When any petty officer or person of inferior rating, who, having received an honorable discharge, shall within three months from the date thereof present said discharge at any naval rendezvous, or aecount for its loss in a satisfactory manner, answer the description it contains, and be found physically fit for the service, he may be re-enlisted for three years; and upon his transfer to a receiving vessel, he will be entitled to three months' gratuitous pay, equal in amount to what he would have been entitled to receive if he had remained employed in actual service for three months, with the rate specified on the face of the honorable discharge.

1066..If the honorable discharge should have been lost, reference can be made to the files of the Department for corroboration that the person presenting himself did receive an honorable discharge, and for a descriptive list of his person.

1067..The three months' pay to which a Petty Officer or person of inferior rating is entitled, who shall enlist for three years within three months after his honorable discharge, shall be considered "honorable discharge money," and so denominated. It wil not, however, be paid in one sum at the time of re-enlistment, but shall be reserved for payment during the term of his re-enlistment, at such times and in such sums as the Commanding Officer may direct. 1068. No person discharged at his own request, or for his own convenience, before the expiration of his term of enlistment, shall be given an honorable discharge.

Continuous Service Certificates.

1069.. When invalids are sent to the United States from a foreign station, the Commanding Officer of the vessel to which they belonged will transmit a list of their names to the Department, stating the general character of each, and designating such as, in his opinion, are entitled to the honorable discharge, in order that the Commandant of the station at which they may arrive in the United States may be directed to grant the said discharge to those deserving it. A duplicate of the list is to be sent also to the Commandant of the station where they are to arrive.

SECTION 4.-Continuous Service Certificates.

1070..All enlisted men, except Officers' cooks and stewards, now serving in the Navy, who were under the age of thirty-five years at the date of their current enlistments, and all men under the said age who hereafter enlist in the naval service, except those who may be rated Officers' cooks and stewards, will receive, upon the expiration of their enlistments, if they shall so elect, Continuous Service Certificates, in lieu of the ordinary or honorable discharges heretofore issued.

1071.. All persons holding Continuous Service Certificates will be entitled to receive for each continuous re-enlistment for three years, within three months from the date of their discharge, one dollar per month in addition to the pay prescribed for their several ratings.

1072.. Any person failing to re-enlist within three months from the date of his discharge from any enlistment, will cease to derive any advantages accruing from his previous continuous enlistments.

1073..The Continuous Service Certificates will embrace all the advantages of honorable discharges in cases where persons are recommended for the same, and must always show, in the column for the purpose, whether or not the men are entitled to such discharges.

1074..Commanding Officers are directed not to recommend for honorable discharge appointed men, nor Officers' cooks, stewards and mess boys, shipped for the cruise of the vessel. Men holding these rates will receive commendatory letters, if entitled to the same, from those under whose control they have acted, countersigned by their respective Commanding Officers.

Desertions.

1075.. At the expiration of ten years' service any disabled enlisted man who has not been discharged for misconduct, will be entitled to a pension, if a Board of Survey shall recommend such action in his case; and after twenty years' service any enlisted man, disabled from sea service by reason of age or infirmity, who has not been discharged for misconduct, will be entitled to a pension equal to onehalf the pay of his rating, when last discharged.

1076.. Any man holding a Continuous Service Certificate, who is distinguished for obedience, sobriety, and cleanliness, and is also proficient in seamanship or gunnery, shall receive, upon the expiration of his enlistment, a good conduct badge; and after he shall have received three such badges, under consecutive re-enlistments, within three months from the dates of his discharges, he shall, if qualified, be enlisted as a Petty Officer, and hold a Petty Officers' rating during subsequent continuous re-enlistments; and he shall not be reduced to a lower rating, except by sentence of a courtmartial.

1077..As the Continuous Service Certificates are prepared at considerable expense to the Government, and are printed on parchment, each man receiving the same will be furnished with a box for its preservation; and under no circumstances will a duplicate certificate be issued.

SECTION 5.-Desertions.

1078.. Desertion being an offense of the gravest character, every possible endeavor must be made by the officers of the Navy to check it, as well as absence without leave, or straggling, and to apprehend promptly all persons who may desert or so absent themselves. In each case descriptive lists, signed by the Commanding Officer, showing on their face the amount of reward offered, are to be distributed among the police of the place, but not without the permission of the local authorities. (Form No. 4.)

1079.. A reward, not exceeding twenty dollars, may be offered for the recovery of a deserter, and a reward, not exceeding ten dollars, may be offered for the recovery of a straggler, but in neither case is it to be paid until the delinquent is actually delivered on board the vessel, or at the place on shore where he belongs, and