who shall attest his signature (r). The agreement for home-trade ships may be made with the seaman by the owner, and for service in any two or more ships belonging to him (s). Legible copies of these agreements (omitting the signatures) are to be placed on board in such a manner as to be accessible to the crew (t); and the master is liable to heavy penalties who fails to observe the provisions of the Act respecting them (u). Seamen engaged in the colonies are to be engaged (subject to the same rules and penalties as at home) before a shipping master, or officer of customs, who is to attest the fact of the signature having been made in his presence (a). And no seaman is to be shipped at a foreign port without the sanction of the consul, to be endorsed upon the agreement, under a penalty of twenty pounds (y). By these agreements, called "the ship's articles," forms of which, applicable to "foreign-going" and "home-trade" ships, are sanctioned and issued by the Board of Trade, the mariners engage to serve on board the ship on the voyage therein described, to conduct themselves in an orderly, faithful, honest, careful, and sober manner; to be at all times diligent in their respective duties and stations, obedient to the lawful commands of the master in everything relating to the ship and her materials, stores, and cargo, whether on board the ship, in boats, or on shore (2). The masters of foreign-going ships, within forty-eight hours after a ship's arrival at her final port of destination in the United Kingdom, or upon the discharge of the crew, whichever first happens, are bound to deliver such agreement to the shipping master, who shall give to the master a certificate of such delivery, without which no officer of customs shall clear his ship inwards (a); and the owners or masters of home-trade ships of more than eighty tons burden, must twice in every year transmit or deliver copies of all such agreements entered into by them during the preceding six months to a shipping master, who shall thereupon give to such owner or master a certificate of his having done so, without production of which, no transire or other document necessary to the conduct of such ship can be obtained (b). On arrival and during the ship's stay at a foreign port, the ship's agreement, and all indentures and assignments of apprenticeship, are to be deposited with the British consul, or if in a British colony, with the officers of customs, to be kept by them during the ship's stay, and returned to the master a reasonable time before his departure; and they are to make endorsements thereon, in case it shall appear to them that the laws and forms have been in any respect transgressed, and transmit copies of such endorsements to the registrar-general of seamen (c). (r) Sec. 155. (s) Sec. 150. (t) Sec. 166. (u) Secs. 157-167, (x) Sec. 159, (y) Sec. 160. See Fraser v. Hatton, 2 C. B., N. S. 512. (z) See the forms in the Appendix. (a) Sec. 161. (b) Sec. 162. (c) Sec. 279. If any seaman is carried out to sea without an agreement in the form and manner thus prescribed having been entered into with him, the master in the case of a foreign-going ship, and the master or owner in case of a home-trade ship, forfeits the sum of 5l. (d). If he neglect to cause the agreement to be posted on board as directed, he forfeits the sum of 5l. (e), and any person who fraudulently alters or assists in altering or delivering a false copy of any agreement, for each such offence shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor (f). In the case of all British foreign-going ships, in whatever part of her Majesty's dominions the same are registered, all seamen discharged in the United Kingdom shall be discharged and receive their wages in the presence of a shipping master duly appointed under the Act, except in cases where some competent Court otherwise direct. The words here printed in italics formed no part of the 13 & 14 Vict., c. 93, s. 96, for which this has been substituted. It was held, however, on the earlier Act, in the case of the Araminta, 1 Swab. 83. that payment to seamen by ship-owners before a shipping master was no satisfaction of wages pronounced for in the Court of Admiralty, and that the proctor for the successful party has a lien on the sum recovered, for his costs. Upon the discharge of a seaman, he is entitled to receive from the master a certificate of his service and discharge, specifying the period of service and the time and place of his discharge, which certificate must be signed by the master; and if the master refuse to give such certificate, he incurs for every such offence a penalty of 10l. (g). The master also to whom the certificates of competency or service of any certificated mate has been delivered is bound under a penalty of 201., on the discharge of such mate, to return such certificate to him (h). Every shipping master is empowered to hear and decide any question whatever between a master or owner and any of his crew, which they may agree in writing to submit to him, and for this purpose to examine all persons, and call for all log-books, papers, or other documents, his decision being binding on both parties, and conclusive as to their rights in any legal proceeding which may be taken (i). The master must, within, and not less than twenty-four hours before, paying off or discharging any seaman, deliver to him, or to a shipping master if he is discharged before one, a full account, in a form sanctioned by the Board of Trade, of his wages, and of all deductions to be made therefrom on any account whatever (k). And upon the completion before a shipping master of any discharge or settlement, the master and owner and each seaman shall sign, in the presence of such shipping master, and to be attested by him, a mutual release of all claims in respect of the past voyage or engagement, in a form to be sanctioned by the Board of Trade; and such release, or a certified copy (d) Sec. 157. (e) Sec. 166. (ƒ) Sec. 164. 豬雞 Sec. 172. (h) Sec. 172. (i) Secs. 173, 174. thereof, under the hand of the shipping master, shall be receivable in evidence, and shall operate as a mutual discharge and settlement of all claims between the parties (1). The master, upon any discharge before a shipping master, must make and sign in duplicate, in a form sanctioned by the Board of Trade, a report of the conduct, character, and qualifications of the persons discharged, or may state, in a column to be left for the purpose, that he declines to give any opinion thereupon; and the shipping master shall retain one copy of such report, transmit the other to the registrar of seamen, or to such other person as the Board directs, to be recorded, and give to or endorse upon the certificate of the seaman's discharge, if he requires it, so much of such report as concerns him (m). Penalties for not discharging before a shipping master, and for not giving an account of wages to seamen, are imposed upon the master; and for not appearing to give evidence, or not producing papers, upon the owner, agent, master, or member of the crew, omitting, when called upon by the shipping master so to do (n); and any person who makes, or assists in making, a false certificate or report of the service, qualifications, conduct, or character of any seamen, or alters it, or makes use of any certificate or report which is forged, or altered, or does not belong to him, will, for each such offence, be guilty of a misdemeanor (o). Whenever a ship belonging to a subject of the United Kingdom is disposed of at any port out of her Majesty's dominions, the master, (unless the crew, in the presence of the British consul or vice-consul, or, in case of there not being any such consul or vice-consul, then in the presence of one or more British resident merchants not interested in the said ship, shall signify their consent in writing to complete the voyage, if continued,) or whenever the service of a seaman or apprentice belonging to any British ship shall terminate abroad, is required to give to him a certificate of discharge, and to a certificated mate his certificate, and besides paying him the wages to which he is entitled under the agreement, either to provide him with adequate employment on board some other British vessel bound to the port from which he was originally shipped, or to furnish the means of sending him back to such port, or to some port in the United Kingdom as shall be agreed upon, by providing him with a passage home, or depositing with the consul or vice-consul such a sum of money as he may deem reasonably sufficient to defray the expenses of his subsistence and passage; and such consular officer or merchants are to endorse upon the agreement of the ship which the seaman or apprentice is leaving, the particulars of such payment, provision, or deposit; and if the master neglects to do so, such expenses, when defrayed, are declared to be a charge upon the ship which is so sold, and upon the owner for the time being thereof (except in cases of barratry), and may be recovered against such owner as so much money paid and expended on his account, (1) Sec. 175. (m) Sec. 176. (n) Secs. 170-174. (0) Sec. 176. together with full costs, at the suit of the consul or other person defraying such expenses, or as a debt due to her Majesty, in case the same shall be allowed to the consul out of the public monies; and if defrayed by the seaman or apprentice, shall be recoverable as wages due to him (p). 4. Provisions for the protection of Seamen and the preservation of their Health. The stipulated wages, the amount of which the Act requires to be set down in the articles against the name of every seaman, are not the only compensation provided for his faithful service. Regulations are prescribed for the preservation of his health; his protection in case of accident or illness; his fair treatment and personal safety at home and abroad, to which it is the duty of the master to conform, and which can hardly be evaded without detection and punishment. Great mischiefs having arisen from masters of merchant ships leaving seamen in foreign parts, who had been thus reduced to distress, and thereby tempted to become pirates, or otherwise misconduct themselves, it was by the 5 & 6 Wm. 4, c. 19, and the 7 & 8 Vict. c. 112, and is now by the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, enacted, that if any master of a ship shall force on shore and leave behind, or otherwise wilfully and wrongfully leave behind, on shore or at sea, in any place in or out of her Majesty's dominions, any seaman or apprentice belonging to his ship before the return of such ship to the United Kingdom, or before the completion of the voyage or voyages for which such person shall be engaged, every person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor (q). It is further provided, that the master shall not discharge any of his crew, in any place situate in any British possession abroad (except the possession in which he was shipped), without the sanction in writing to be endorsed on the agreement of some public shipping master or other officer appointed by the local government in that behalf, or in the absence of such functionary, then of the chief officer of customs resident at or near the place where the discharge takes place, nor at any other place abroad without the sanction in writing of the British consular officer there, or in his absence, of two respectable merchants resident there, all which said functionaries and merchants are empowered to inquire in a summary way into the grounds of such proposed discharge, by examination on oath, and to grant or refuse such sanction as appears to them to be just (r). And no master shall leave behind at any place abroad, any person of his crew on any grounds whatever, without previously obtaining a certificate in writing from such functionary or merchant endorsed as aforesaid, (p) Sec. 205. (q) Sec. 207. (r) Sec. 207. The Board of Trade may, by regulations duly published, dispense with the necessity of obtaining these sanctions, or limit it to particular ships or voyages; see 13 & 14 Vict. c. 93, s. 76. stating the fact and the cause thereof, whether such cause be unfitness or inability to proceed to sea, or desertion, or disappearance, and if he do so, he is for each default to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor (s). The regulations of the recent statute for the registration of seamen, for the preservation of their health, for providing them with medicines and medical advice, in case of sickness or accident, have already been mentioned (t). The quantity of provisions each seaman is to receive per day is now required to be specified in the agreement, and if that quantity be reduced one-third or less, he is to receive 4d.; if more than one-third, 8d. per day, in addition to, and recoverable as wages; and if they be of bad quality and unfit for use, 1s. a day (u). Such are the principal clauses of this important statute, relating to the hiring and treatment of mariners. It contains other provisions, respecting the earning, payment, and forfeiture of wages, which will be noticed in the following chapters of this part; for binding and turning over parish boys as apprentices to the sea service, and the registration of their indentures and assignments, as well as those of apprentices not bound by the parish (x); for the keeping a list or muster roll of the crew, including master and apprentices, in a form prescribed by the Act, its delivery on the return of a foreign-going ship, or half-yearly if a home-bound ship, to the shipping master (y), and the production of it, as well as of the ship's articles and log-book by the master, when required, to officers of her Majesty's ships, the collectors or chief officers of the customs at any place in her Majesty's dominions, to shipping masters, and to the registrar and his assistants in the "general register of the merchant seamen" (z). Any two justices of the peace residing at or near the port at which any ship shall arrive have power to hear and determine all claims, complaints, and disputes between masters of ships and their apprentices (a). And any master refusing to send on shore, in charge of the mate or some trustworthy person, any apprentice desirous of complaining to a justice of the peace, consular officer, or naval officer in command of any of her Majesty's ships, as soon as the service of the ship will permit it, is liable to a penalty of 107. (b). 5. Verbal agreement for Wages not absolutely void. The statutes do not render a verbal agreement for wages absolutely void; but impose a penalty on the master, if a written agreement is not made. When a written agreement is made, it becomes the only evidence of the contract between the parties; and a mariner cannot recover any thing agreed to be given in reward for his service, which is not specified in the articles: this has been decided (8) Sec. 207. (t) Ante, p. 147. (u) Sec. 223. (x) Secs. 141-145, (y) Secs. 273-275. (z) Sec. 13. |