IILord High Admiral may authorize the Publication of the Nautical Almanack. Penalty for publishing said Almanack without such Authority.
And whereas the Publication of the Nautical Almanack, constructed by proper Persons for the finding of the Longitude at Sea, is of great Importance to the Safety of Ships and Persons, and highly conducive to the general Interests of Commerce and Navigation ; be it therefore enacted, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the Lord High Admiral, or the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the Time being, to cause such Nautical Almanacks, or other useful Table or Tables, which he or they shall from Time to Time judge necessary and useful in order to facilitate the Method of discovering the Longitude at Sea, to be constructed, printed, published, and vended, free of all Stamp Duty whatever, in the same Manner as the Commissioners under the said Act of the Fifty-eighth Year of His late Majesty's Reign might or could do; and that every Person who, without the special Licence and Authority of the Lord High Admiral or Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral aforesaid for the Time being, to be signified under the Hand of the Secretary of the Admiralty for the Time being, shall print, publish, or vend, or cause to be printed, published, or vended, any such Almanack or Almanacks, or other Table or Tables, shall, for every Copy of such Almanack or Table so printed, published, or vended, forfeit and pay the Sum of Twenty Pounds, to be recovered, with Costs of Suit, by any Person to be authorized for that Purpose by the Lord High Admiral or Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral aforesaid, (such Authority to be signified under the Hand of the Secretary of the Admiralty as aforesaid,) by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information, in any of His Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster ; and that the Proceeds of the said Penalty, when recovered, shall be paid and applied to the Use of the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich.