twenty-four without leave at any time within twenty-four hours of the M. 8. Act, substitute: absence without secured. (3.) For quitting the ship without leave after her arrival at her Quitting port of delivery and before she is placed in security, he shall leave before be liable to forfeit out of his wages a sum not exceeding one ship is month's pay: (4.) For wilful disobedience to any lawful command he shall be Act of disliable to imprisonment for any period not exceeding four weeks, with or without hard labour, and also, at the discretion of the Court, to forfeit out of his wages a sum not exceeding two days' pay: obedience. Continued (5.) For continued wilful disobedience to lawful commands, or discontinued wilful neglect of duty, he shall be liable to obedience. imprisonment for any period not exceeding twelve weeks, with or without hard labour, and also, at the discretion of the Court, to forfeit for every twenty-four hours' continuance of such disobedience or neglect either a sum not exceeding six days' pay, or any expenses which have been properly incurred in hiring a substitute : officers. (6.) For assaulting any master or mate he shall be liable to Assault on imprisonment for any period not exceeding twelve weeks, with or without hard labour: (7.) For combining with any other or others of the crew to Combining disobey lawful commands, or to neglect duty, or to impede the navigation of the ship or the progress of the voyage, he shall be liable to imprisonment for any period not exceeding twelve weeks, with or without hard labour: to disobey. damage and (8.) For wilfully damaging the ship, or embezzling or wilfully Wilful damaging any of her stores or cargo, he shall be liable to embezzleforfeit out of his wages a sum equal in amount to the loss ment. thereby sustained, and also, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any period not exceeding twelve weeks, with or without hard labour: (9.) For any act of smuggling of which he is convicted, and Act of smugwhereby loss or damage is occasioned to the master or causing loss gling owner, he shall be liable to pay to such master or owner to owner. such a sum as is sufficient to reimburse the master or owner for such loss or damage; and the whole or a proportionate part of his wages may be retained in satisfaction or on account of such liability, without prejudice to any further remedy. 247. Whenever any seaman or apprentice is brought before any Deserters M. S. Act, Court on the ground of his having neglected or refused to join or to 1854. proceed to sea in any ship in which he is engaged to serve, or of may be sent having deserted or otherwise absented himself therefrom without on board in leave, such Court may, if the master or the owner or his agent so lieu of being requires, instead of committing the offender to prison, cause him to imprisoned. be conveyed on board for the purpose of proceeding on the voyage Entries and certificates of desertion abroad to be copied, sent home, and admitted in evidence. Facilities for proving desertion, cerns wages. or deliver him to the master or any mate of the ship, or the owner or his agent, to be by them so conveyed, and may in such case order any costs and expenses properly incurred by or on behalf of the master or owner by reason of the offence to be paid by the offender, and, if necessary, to be deducted from any wages which he has then earned, or which by virtue of his then existing engagement he may afterwards earn. 249. In all cases of desertion from any ship in any place abroad, the master shall produce the entry of such desertion in the official log-book to the person or persons hereby required to indorse on the agreement a certificate of such desertion; and such person or persons shall thereupon make and certify a copy of such entry and also a copy of the said certificate of desertion; and, if such person is a public functionary, he shall, and in other cases the said master shall, forthwith transmit such copies to the registrar-general of seamen in England; and the said registrar shall, if required, cause the same to be produced in any legal proceedings; and such copies, if purporting to be so made and certified as aforesaid, and certified to have come from the custody of the said registrar, shall in any legal proceeding relating to such desertion be received as evidence of the entries therein appearing. 250. Whenever a question arises whether the wages of any seaman or apprentice are forfeited for desertion, it shall be sufficient for so far as con- the party insisting on the forfeiture to show that such seaman or forfeiture of apprentice was duly engaged in or that he belonged to the ship from which he is alleged to have deserted, and that he quitted such ship before the completion of the voyage or engagement, or, if such voyage was to terminate in the United Kingdom and the ship has not returned, that he is absent from her, and that an entry of the desertion has been duly made in the official log-book; and thereupon the desertion shall, so far as relates to any forfeiture of wages or emoluments under the provisions herein before contained, be deemed to be proved, unless the seaman or apprentice can produce a proper certificate of discharge, or can otherwise show to the satisfaction of the Court that he had sufficient reasons for leaving his ship. Costs of procuring imprisonment may to the extent of three pounds be deducted 251. Whenever in any proceeding relating to seamen's wages it is shown that any seaman or apprentice has in the course of the voyage been convicted of any offence by any competent tribunal, and rightfully punished therefor by imprisonment or otherwise, the Court hearing the case may direct a part of the wages due to such seaman, not exceeding three pounds, to be applied in reimbursing any costs from wages. properly incurred by the master in procuring such conviction and punishment. 252. Whenever any seaman contracts for wages by the voyage, or by the run, or by the share, and not by the month or other stated ascertained period of time, the amount of forfeiture to be incurred under this Act shall be taken to be an amount bearing the same proportion to Amount of forfeiture, how to be when 1854. seamen the whole wages or share as a calendar month or other the period M. 8. Act, hereinbefore mentioned in fixing the amount of such forfeiture (as the case may be) bears to the whole time spent in the voyage; and, if the whole time spent in the voyage does not exceed the period for contract for which the pay is to be forfeited, the forfeiture shall extend to the the voyage. whole wages or share. of for feitures. 253. All clothes, effects, wages, and emoluments which under the Application provisions herein before contained are forfeited for desertion, shall be applied in the first instance in or towards the reimbursement of the expenses occasioned by such desertion to the master or owner of the ship from which the desertion has taken place; and may, if earned subsequently to the desertion, be recovered by such master, or by the owner or his agent, in the same manner as the deserter might have recovered the same if they had not been forfeited; and in any legal proceeding relating to such wages the Court may order the same to be paid accordingly; and, subject to such reimbursement, the same shall be paid into the receipt of her Majesty's Exchequer in such manner as the Treasury may direct, and shall be carried to and form part of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom; and in all other cases of forfeiture of wages under the provisions herein before contained, the forfeiture shall, in the absence of any specific directions to the contrary, be for the benefit of the master or owner by whom the wages are payable. forfeitures 254. Any question concerning the forfeiture of or deductions from Questions of the wages of any seaman or apprentice may be determined in any inay be proceeding lawfully instituted with respect to such wages, notwith- decided in standing that the offence in respect of which such question arises, suits for though hereby made punishable by imprisonment as well as forfeiture, has not been made the subject of any criminal proceeding. wages. false state 255. If any seaman on or before being engaged wilfully and Penalty for fraudulently makes a false statement of the name of his last ship or ment as to last alleged ship, or wilfully and fraudulently makes a false statement last ship or of his own name, he shall incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds; name. and such penalty may be deducted from any wages he may earn by virtue of such engagement as aforesaid, and shall, subject to reimbursement of the loss and expenses (if any) occasioned by any previous desertion, be paid and applied in the same manner as other penalties payable under this Act. from wages, master. 256. Whenever any seaman commits an act of misconduct for Fines to be which his agreement imposes a fine, and which it is intended to deducted punish by enforcing such fine, an entry thereof shall be made in the and paid to official log-book, and a copy of such entry shall be furnished, or the shipping same shall be read over to the offender, and an entry of such reading over and of the reply (if any) made by the offender shall be made, in the manner and subject to the conditions herein before specified with respect to the offences against discipline specified in and punishable under this Act; and such fine shall be deducted and paid over as follows, (that is to say,) if the offender is discharged in the United Kingdom, and the offence and such entries in respect thereof as aforesaid are proved, in the case of a foreign-going ship to the satisfaction of the shipping master before whom the offender is discharged, and in the case of a home-trade ship to the satisfaction of the shipping master at or nearest to the place at which the crew is 1854. M. 8. Act, discharged, the master or owner shall deduct such fine from the wages of the offender, and pay the same over to such shipping master; and if before the final discharge of the crew in the United Kingdom any such offender as aforesaid enters into any of her Majesty's ships, or is discharged abroad, and the offence and such entries as aforesaid are proved to the satisfaction of the officer in command of the ship into which he so enters, or of the consular officer, officer of customs, or other person by whose sanction he is so discharged, the fine shall thereupon be deducted as aforesaid, and an entry of such deduction shall then be made in the official log-book (if any) and signed by such officer or other person; and on the return of the ship to the United Kingdom the master or owner shall pay over such fine, in the case of foreign-going ships, to the shipping master before whom the crew is discharged, and in the case of home-trade ships to the shipping master at or nearest to the place at which the crew is discharged; and if any master or owner neglects or refuses to pay over any such fine in manner aforesaid, he shall for each such offence incur a penalty not exceeding six times the amount of the fine retained by him: Provided that no act of misconduct for which any such fine as aforesaid has been inflicted and paid shall be otherwise punished under the provisions of this Act. Extension destitute seamen. THE MERCHANT SHIPPING AMENDMENT ACT, 1855. 18 & 19 VICT. C. 91. MASTERS AND SEAMEN (PART III. OF MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1854). 16. The Board of Trade may issue instructions concerning the of provisions relief to be administered to distressed seamen and apprentices, in concerning the relief of pursuance of the two hundred and eleventh and two hundred and twelfth sections of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and may by such instructions determine in what cases and under what circumstances and conditions such relief is to be administered; and all powers of recovering expenses incurred with respect to distressed seamen and apprentices, which by the two hundred and thirteenth section of the said Act are given to the Board of Trade, shall extend to all expenses incurred by any foreign government for the purposes aforesaid, and repaid to such government by her Majesty's government, and shall likewise extend to any expenses incurred by the conveying home such seamen or apprentices in foreign as well as British ships; and all provisions concerning the relief of distressed seamen and apprentices, being subjects of her Majesty, which are contained in the said sections of the said Act, and in this section, shall extend to such seamen and apprentices, not being subjects of her Majesty, as are reduced to distress in foreign parts by reason of their having been shipwrecked, discharged, or left behind from any British ship; subject, nevertheless, to such modifications and directions concerning the cases in which relief is to be given to such foreigners, and the country to which they are to be sent, as the Board of Trade may, under the circumstances, think fit to make and issue. (17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, ss. 211, 212, and 213.) THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1862. 25 & 26 VICT. c. 63. 21. The wages of seamen or apprentices who are lost with the M. S. Act, ship to which they belong shall be dealt with as follows (that is to 1862. say): (1.) The Board of Trade may recover the same from the owner are recoverable: (2.) In any proceedings for the recovery of such wages, if it is (3.) The production out of the custody of the registrar- (4.) The Board of Trade shall deal with such wages in the Recovery of wages, &c., with of seamen their ship. THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1873. 36 & 37 Vict. c. 85. maximum 7. Any agreement with a seaman made under sect. 149 of the Agreement Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, may, instead of stating the nature may state and duration of the intended voyage or engagement as by that period of section required, state the maximum period of the voyage or voyage. engagement, and the places or parts of the world (if any) to which the voyage or engagement is not to extend. 8. The owner or master of any British vessel engaged in fishing Agreement off the coast of the United Kingdom, may enter into an agreement as to profits of fishing with any person employed on such vessel, that such person shall be adventure. |