FOr the Increaſe of the Shipping and the Encouragement of the Navigation of this Nation, which under the good Providence and protection of God, is ſo great a means of the Welfare and Safety of this Commonwealth; Be it Enacted by this preſent Parliament, and the Authority thereof, That from and after the Firſt day of December, One thouſand ſix hundred fifty and one, and from thence forwards, No Goods or Commodities whatſoever, of the Growth, Production or Manufacture of Aſia, Affrica or America, or of any part thereof; or of any Iſlands belonging to them, or any of them, or which are deſcribed or laid down in the uſual Maps or Cards of thoſe places, as well of the Engliſh Plantations as others, ſhall be Imported or brought into this Commonwealth of England, or into Ireland, or any other Lands, Iſlands, Plantations or Territories to this Commonwealth belonging, or in their Poſſeſsion, in any other Ship or Ships, Veſſel or Veſſels whatſoever, but only in ſuch as do truly and without fraud belong only to the People of this Commonwealth, or the Plantations thereof, as the Proprietors or right Owners thereof: And whereof the Maſter and Marriners are alſo for the moſt part of them, of the People of this Commonwealth, under the penalty of the forfeiture and loſs of all the Goods that ſhall be Imported contrary to this Act; as alſo of the Ship (with all her Tackle, Guns and Apparel) in which the ſaid Goods or Commodities ſhall be ſo brought in and Imported, The one moyety to the uſe of the Commonwealth, and the other moyety to the uſe and behoof of any perſon or perſons who ſhall ſeize the ſaid Goods or Commodities, and ſhall proſecute the ſame in any Court of Record within this Commonwealth. And it is further Enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That no Goods or Commodities of the Growth, Production or Manufacture of Europe, or of any part thereof, ſhall after the Firſt day of December, One thouſand ſix hundred fifty and one, be Imported or brought into this Commonwealth of England, or into Ireland, or any other Lands, Iſlands, Plantations or Territories to this Commonwealth belonging, or in their poſſeſsion, in any Ship or Ships, Veſſel or Veſſels whatſoever, but in ſuch as do truly and without fraud belong onely to the people of this Commonwealth, as the true Owners and proprietors thereof, and in no other, except onely ſuch Forreign Ships and Veſſels as do truly and properly belong to the people of that Countrey or place, of which the ſaid Goods are the Growth, Production or Manufacture; or to ſuch Ports where the ſaid Goods can onely be, or moſt uſually are firſt Shipped for Tranſportation; And that under the ſame penalty of forfeiture and loſs expreſſed in the former Branch of this Act, The ſaid Forfeitures to be recovered and imployed as is therein expreſſed. And it is further Enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That no Goods or Commodities that are of Forreign Growth, Production or Manufacture, and which are to be brought into this Commonwealth, in ſhipping belonging to the people thereof, ſhall be by them Shipped or brought from any other place or places, Countrey or Countreys, but onely from thoſe of their ſaid Growth, Production or Manufacture; or from thoſe Ports where the ſaid Goods and Commodities can onely, or are, or uſually have been firſt Shipped for Tranſportation; And from none other places or Countreys, under the ſame penalty of forfeiture and loſs expreſſed in the firſt Branch of this Act, the ſaid Forfeitures to be recovered and imployed as is therein expreſsed. And it is further Enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That no ſort of Cod-fiſh, Ling, Herring, Pilchard, or any other kinde of ſalted Fiſh, uſually fiſhed for and caught by the people of this Nation; nor any Oyl made, or that ſhall be made of any kinde of Fiſh whatſoever, nor any Whale-fins, or Whale-bones, ſhall from henceforth be Imported into this Commonwealth, or into Ireland, or any other Lands, Iſlands, Plantations, or Territories thereto belonging, or in their poſseſsion, but onely ſuch as ſhall be caught in Veſſels that do or ſhall truly and properly belong to the people of this Nation, as Proprietors and Right Owners thereof: And the ſaid Fiſh to be cured, and the Oyl aforeſaid made by the people of this ſaid Commonwealth, under the penalty and loſs expreſſed in the ſaid firſt Branch of this preſent Act▪ the ſaid Forfeit to be recovered and imployed as is there expreſſed. And it is further Enacted by the Authority aforeſaid, That no ſort of Cod, Ling, Herring, Pilchard, or any other kinde of Salted Fiſh whatſoever, which ſhall be caught and cured by the people of this Commonwealth, ſhall be from and after the Firſt day of February, One thouſand ſix hundred fifty three, Exported from any place or places belonging to this Commonwealth, in any other Ship or Ships, Veſſel or Veſſels, ſave onely in ſuch as do truly and properly appertain to the people of this Commonwealth, as Right Owners; and whereof the Maſter and Marriners are for the moſt part of them Engliſh, under the penalty and loſs expreſſed in the ſaid firſt Branch of this preſent Act; the ſaid Forfeit to be recovered and imployed as is there expreſſed. Provided always, That this Act, nor any thing theren contained, extend not, or be meant to reſtrain the Importation of any of the Commodities of the Streights or Levant Seas, loaden in the Shipping of this Nation as aforeſaid, at the uſual Ports or places for lading of them heretofore, within the ſaid Streights or Levant Seas, though the ſaid Commodities be not of the very Growth of the ſaid places. Provided alſo, That this Act nor any thing therein contained, extend not, nor be meant to reſtrain the Importing of any Eaſt-India Commodities loaden in the Shipping of this Nation, at the uſual Port or places for Lading of them heretofore in any part of thoſe Seas, to the Southward and Eaſtward of Cabo Bona Eſperanza, although the ſaid Ports be not the very places of their Growth. Provided alſo, That it ſhall and may be lawful to and for any of the People of this Commonwealth, in Veſſels or Ships to them belonging, and whereof the Maſter and Marriners are of this Nation as aforeſaid, To load and bring in from any of the Ports of Spain and Portugal, all ſorts of Goods or Commodities that have come from, or any way belonged unto the Plantations or Dominions of either of them reſpectively: Be it alſo further Enacted by ye authority aforeſaid, That from henceforth, it ſhal not be lawful to any perſon or perſons whatſoever, to load or cauſe to be loaden and carryed in any Bottom or Bottoms, Ship or Ships, Veſſel or Veſſels whatſoever, whereof any Stranger or Strangers born (unleſs ſuch as be Denizens or Naturalized) be Owners, part Owners, or Maſter, Any Fiſh, Victual, Wares, or things of what kinde or nature ſoever the ſame ſhall be, from one Port or Creek of this Commonwealth, to another Port or Creek of the ſame, under penalty to every one that ſhall offend contrary to the true meaning of this Branch of this preſent Act, to forfeit all the Goods that ſhall be ſo Laden or carried, as alſo the Ship upon which they ſhall be ſo laden or carried, the ſame Forfeit to be recovered and imployed as directed in the Firſt Branch of this preſent Act. Laſtly, That this Act nor any thing therein contained, extend not to Bullion, nor yet to any Goods taken, or that ſhall be taken by way of Reprizal by any Ship or Ships, having Commiſsion from this Commonwealth. Provided, That this Act, or any thing therein contained, ſhall not extend, nor be conſtrued to extend to any Silk or Silk-wares which ſhall be brought by Land from any parts of Italy, and there bought with the proceed of Engliſh Commodities, ſold either for Money or in Barter; but that it ſhall and may be lawful for any of the people of this Commonwealth to ſhip the ſame in Engliſh Veſſels from Oſtend, Newport, Roterdam, Middleburgh, Amſterdam, or any Ports thereabouts; The Owners and Proprietors firſt making Oath by themſelves, or other credible Witneſs, before the Commiſsioners of the Cuſtoms for the time being or their Deputies, or one of the Barons of the Exchequer, that the Goods aforeſaid were ſo bought for his or their own proper Accompt in Italy.