celled or any apprentice dies or deserts, the master must, within seven days, if the event happens within the United Kingdom, or if it happens elsewhere, as soon afterwards as circumstances permit, notify the same either to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen or to some superintendent, to be recorded; and every person who fails to comply with these provisions incurs a penalty not exceeding ten pounds. Sect. 144 provides, that, subject to these provisions, all apprenticeships to the sea service made by guardians or overseers of the poor, or persons having the authority of guardians of the poor, must, if made in Great Britain, be made in the same manner and subject to the same laws and regulations as other apprenticeships by the same persons. If made in Ireland, the apprenticeships are subject to certain special rules laid down in the statute (p). In order to prevent any evasion of these provisions, sect. 145 provides, that the master of every foreign going ship must before carrying any apprentice to sea from any place in the United Kingdom, cause the apprentice to appear before the superintendent of the mercantile marine office before whom the crew is engaged, and produce to him the indenture by which the apprentice is bound, and the assignment thereof (if any); and the name of the apprentice, with the date of the indenture and of the assignment, and the name of the ports at which the same may have been registered, must be entered on the agreement; and for any default in these respects the master incurs a penalty not exceeding five pounds. The masters and owners of all ships belonging to any subject of the Queen, and of the burthen of eighty tons and upwards (except pleasure yachts), were formerly bound, under heavy penalties, to carry on board a certain number of apprentices proportioned to the tonnage of the vessel (q). But this provision making the carrying of apprentices compulsory has been for some years repealed (). The rights and remedies of apprentices with respect to their wages are now in all material respects similar to those of ordinary seamen (s). It has, however, been held, in a case decided before the passing of the Judicature Acts, that the Court of Admiralty possessed no jurisdiction to order the amount of a penalty contained in the indenture of apprenticeship to be paid (p) See the M. S. Act, 1854, the latter part of sect. 144. (2) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 112, s. 37. now also repealed by the M. S. Repeal Act, 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 120). (s) See post, pp. 221, 223, 241, note (4). out of the proceeds of the vessel in which the apprentice had served (f). No settlement is now acquired by apprenticeship to the sea service ("). Impressment, which in former times was frequently resorted IMPRESSMENT. to for obtaining hands for Queen's ships in time of war, must be here mentioned. The power exercised in this respect by the Crown is founded on immemorial usage, and cannot be justified by any reason but the safety of the state, and the maxim of the constitutional law of England, that it is better to submit to private mischief than that public detriment should ensue (x). Although this power does not rest on any statute, and has been yielded to, owing to its arbitrary nature, with great reluctance, it is undoubtedly legal, and has frequently been recognized by acts of parliament (y). The general rule is, that all seamen, seafaring men, and also persons whose occupations and callings are to work in vessels or boats on rivers, are liable to be impressed. These are the classes included in the ordinary Admiralty warrants. Officers are not included within this description (z). There are several exemptions from this general liability, Exemptions which are founded either upon immemorial usage, or upon special statutory or Admiralty protections. Thus ferrymen are said to be exempt on grounds of public convenience (a), but seamen are not protected by reason of their being freeholders (6), nor are freemen, liverymen, or watermen of the city of London (c). Nor is the holding of an office, imposed (1) The Albert Crosby, Lush. 44. (u) 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 76, s. 67. (x) Per Lord Mansfield, in Rex v. Tubbs, Cowp. 517. (y) See Forster's Crown Law, 154, where the early history of impressment is inquired into, and the 2 R. 2, c. 4, where the existence of the practice is assumed, and The Case of Pressing Mariners, 18 State Trials, 1326, A.D. 1743. See also Corner's Crown Practice, ed. 1844, 117. A greater grievance formerly existed, as appears by the Rolls of Parliament in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which contain frequent complaints of the undoing of the merchants of England, by reason of the impressing of their ships into the service of the Crown. See 2 Rolls of Parl. 307, 320; 3 ib. 66; 4 ib. 79. () Per Lord Mansfield, in Rex v. Tubbs, Cowp. 517. But it does not appear that the master of a merchant vessel is by law exempt from impressment. At all events, the Courts have refused to interfere where there has been any suspicion that the appointment was colourable. Barrow's Case, 14 East, 346. See also Ex parte Chalacombe, 13 East, 550, note. (a) Ex parte Fox, 5 T. R. 276; (b) Rex v. Douglas, 5 East, 477; Rex by usage. By statute. Admiralty protections. by law, such as that of a head-borough, any ground of exemption (d). Statutory exemptions, formerly more numerous, are now only as follows:-The 13 Geo. 2, c. 17, protects all foreigners serving in British trading ships or privateers, all persons aged fifty-five, or upwards, or under eighteen, and all persons of any age for two years from the time of their first going to sea. And all persons who have not before used the sea, and who bind themselves apprentices to serve at sea, are by the same act protected for three years from that period (e). By the 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 24, Admiralty protections for two years are to be given to all seamen who have served five years during any proclamation calling for the services of seafaring men; but seamen discharged during the five years, not on their own application, are entitled to a protection for one year only (ƒ). In addition to the protections required to be granted by statute, protections have customarily been granted by the Admiralty as matter of favour; but the security afforded by such is not very great, for it has been held, that such a protection granted for a given time may be revoked within that period if the exigency of the public service require it (g). Where, however, a bargeman was protected by the navy bcard while carrying timber to the King's docks, it was held, with more justice, that he could not be impressed under an Admiralty warrant which distinctly specified that no protections were to be regarded (h). It is unlawful to commute the services of an impressed person for money, and a bond given to secure his return on the nonpayment of a sum of money has been held to be void (i). (d) Ex parte Fox, 5 T. R. 276. (e) A keelman, who had been pre- Apprentices' Case, 1 Leach, C. C. 203. The 50 Geo. 3, c. 108, s. 2, protected in certain cases masters, apprentices, mariners and landsmen employed in fishing vessels. This act was repealed by 31 & 32 Vict. c. 45, sched. 2. See also 28 Geo. 3, c. 41, s. 17, repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1861; and as to firemen, 14 Geo. 3, c. 78, s. 82, repealed by 28 & 29 Vict. c. 90, s. 34. (ƒ) 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 24, ss. 1 and 2. By 16 & 17 Vict. c. 69, s. 1, these provisions are extended to seamen entering for continuous service. (g) Herbert's Case, 16 East, 165. (h) Goldswaine's Case, 2 Bl. 1207. (i) Pole v. Harrobin, 9 East, 416, note; S. C., 3 Dougl. 91. SERVE. The provisions of the recent statutes under which a reserve NAVAL REvolunteer force to serve in Queen's ships has been established, and regulations enacted for their remuneration and government, may be usefully noticed here. By the 16 & 17 Vict. c. 73, power was given to the Admiralty to establish and train a body of Royal Naval Coast Volunteers, not exceeding ten thousand men, to be raised from among seafaring men and others; and by the 8th section of the act it was provided that volunteers under the act should, save as therein expressly provided, be protected from service in the royal navy. The 22 & 23 Vict. c. 40, provides that it shall be lawful for the Admiralty to raise, and from time to time to keep up, a number of men, not exceeding thirty thousand, such men to be raised by voluntary entry from among seafaring men and others who may be deemed suitable for the service in which such volunteers may be employed, and to be so raised and entered at such times and in such places in the United Kingdom and the islands of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney and Sark, or any of them, by such persons and in such manner as the Admiralty shall from time to time direct. This last-mentioned act contains provisions too numerous to be set out here at length; but it may be stated that it provides that every volunteer raised under the act shall be entered for the term of five years (k), and shall be trained and exercised for twenty-eight days in each year on shore or on board ship (1). Such volunteers are liable to be called into actual service on such occasions as to her Majesty may seem fit, and when so called into actual service, they are liable to serve in the navy for three years, and the time of service may be extended two years by proclamation (m). A volunteer not attending training at the time appointed, and not labouring under any infirmity incapacitating him, is liable to a penalty of 207. (n); and a volunteer when called into actual service, not attending at the time and place appointed, may be apprehended and punished as a deserter from the navy (0). The 17th section of this act requires that every mercantile Powers of marine superintendent acting under the Merchant Shipping Act, mercantile intendent as to the Naval Reserve. Officers of STATUTORY TECTION OF 1854, shall give all the assistance in his power towards carrying into effect the objects of the act in such manner as the Board of Trade, at the instance of the Admiralty, may direct; and every such mercantile marine superintendent shall for this purpose have the power to call for such answers or information concerning naval reserve men from the masters of and other persons belonging to British merchant ships as may be necessary or desirable in order to enable him to render such assistance as aforesaid, or to make any returns which the Board of Trade or the Admiralty may require; and every master of or other person belonging to a British merchant ship who, when duly called upon by the mercantile marine superintendent, omits or refuses to give any such answer or information as aforesaid which it is in his power to give, shall be liable to a penalty of 57. The Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve Act, 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. 69), provides for her Majesty accepting the services of masters, mates and engineers of merchant ships to serve as officers of the Royal Naval Reserve, and continuing the services of all persons who had before the passing of that act been enrolled as officers of that force (p). Provisions have been made by the legislature on numerous FOR THE PRO- Occasions for the encouragement and protection of merchant seamen. Some were introduced by early statutes (q), but the greater part of those in force are of modern date. The laws relating to merchant seamen were amended and consolidated, and provisions were made for the establishment of a general register of all the men engaged in the merchant service, by the 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 19. At later periods, several acts were passed for the protection of merchant seamen and the regulation of the merchant navy. The more important of these were the general Merchant Seamen's Act (7 & 8 Vict. c. 112); the Seamen's Protection Act (8 & 9 Vict. c. 116); and the Mercantile Marine Act, 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. 93). All these acts are now repealed (»), and the law relating to this subject is now principally to be found in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, as amended by the Merchant (p) The 24 & 25 Vict. c. 129, now repealed, contained provisions on this subject. See also the M. S. Act, 1872, s. 17, and Orders in Council of the 1st of March, 1864, and the 15th October, 1872. (7) See 2 Geo. 2, c. 36, and 31 Geo. 3, c. 39. () See the M. S. Repeal Act, 1851 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 120). |