Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to audit and adjust the claim of Gilbert Stalker and N. B. Hill, for a steamboat called the "James Boatwright," which was sunk in Indian River, in

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Florida, in the month of April, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, while in the service of the United States, as represented by them, by reason of her bottom being eaten through by the worms which infest those waters, and which was prevented from being repaired after she had been ascertained to have been seriously injured, and application had been made for her relief to the officer under whose command she was, in consequence of the exigency of the public service; and that the said Secretary, on finding the facts aforesaid to be true, pay the said Stalker and Hill whatever damage they may have sustained by the loss of the steamboat aforesaid, estimating the value of the said steamboat not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars, and deducting therefrom what, in his judgment, it would have cost to overhaul and repair the said steamboat at the time application was made to take her to Charleston for repairs, including the expense of taking her there, and the value of the engine saved from the wreck of said steamboat; and that the said Secretary be authorized to take additional evidence upon any or all of the points arising in the case, if deemed necessary.

Approved, July 5, 1848.