Spoilers of Ships in Trouble to be Punished An interesting order has been ued by the Ministry of Navy with reference to ships in distress. This has been sent to the National Coastguard Bureau at Woosung, the officers of which are ordered to prevent unscrupulous persons from rob-higo unarmed vessels of their cargoes or other properties, under the pretext of rendering assistance, when such vessels go aground or strike the rocks. Many reports of such cases have been received by the Ministry which has decided that, in accordance with the Criminal Code, persons found committing: such acts shall be liable to capital punishment and treated as pirates.
The order further says that the attention of the people along the coast must be drawn to the law providing that no person shall, without permission, recover cargoes which have been jettisoned by vessels in distress a year after such jettisoning. Those who ignore this law shall be fined.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.