[Policy requires that the wages of seamen should not be paid to Chap. 2. them in foreign countries, as well to prevent desertion, as to preserve, for the benefit of their families, the money that might otherwise be spent in idleness and debauchery. The legislature of this country has enacted, by a general law, "that no master or owner of any merchant ship shall pay or advance, or cause to be paid or advanced, to any seaman or mariner, during the time he shall be in parts beyond the seas, any money or effects on account of wages exceeding one moiety of the wages which shall be due at the time of such payment, until such ship or vessel shall return to Great Britain or Ireland, or the plantations, or to some other of his Majesty's dominions whereto they belong, and from whence they were first fitted out; and if any such master or owner of such merchant ship or vessel shall pay or advance, or cause to be paid or advanced, any wages to any seaman or mariner above the said moiety, such master or owner shall forfeit and pay double the money he shali so pay or advance, to be recovered in the High Court of Admiralty by any person who shail first discover and inform of the same (e). The French ordinance, so often quoted, has made no provision on this subject; but, according to Pothier, the defect was supplied by subsequent ordinances in that country, which prohibited the payment of wages in places to which the ship did not belong, without the consent of the French consul in a foreign country, and in France of the officers of the classes (f). The Code de Commerce does not appear to contain any regulation on this subject. The ordinance of Rotterdam (g) having enacted, "That the full wages of the ship's company shall always be deemed to be earned, whether one or more complete voyages have been made in foreign parts, even though the ship should afterwards happen to be lost," adds, "that the master shall be obliged to pay to his people every time, if they require it, at least the half; but that when any dispute arises, they shall not go to law in foreign parts, nor give one another any trouble, ou forfeiture of what wages or monthly pay shall remain unpaid." By the articles of agreement for service in a Dutch ship, which were proved in evidence at the trial of an action brought in this country by a seaman against the master for wages (h), it was stipulated, that in case one or more complete voyages should be made out of the country, the master should at every second place of delivery secure to the seamen two-thirds of their wages by an order on his purser or] and to be endorsed as therein is required, shall, if produced out of the custody of the Board of Trade or of the Registrar General of Seamen, or of any superintendent of any mercantile marine office, be received as evidence; and any endorsement on such bill, purporting to be made in pursuance of such section, and to be signed by one of those functionaries, shall be received in evidence and deemed primâ facie evidence of the facts stated in it. (e) [8 Geo. 1, c. 24, s. 7. This statute was made perpetual by 2 Geo. 2, c. 28, s. 7.] (f) [Pothier, Loyers des Matelots, sects. 2, 3.] (g) [2 Magens, 113, 114.] (h) [Geinar v. Meyer, 2 Hen. Black. 603. In consequence of the concluding clause of these articles, it was held that the action could not be maintained, although the vessel had been seized by an English ship, brought into this country, and sold here, under the authority of the government; the master and crew not being made prisoners. See also Johnson v. Machielsne, 3 Campb. 44.] Part V. [correspondent at Rotterdam; but that none of the seamen should institute any suit against the master in foreign countries. By the articles of agreement made at Altona for service in a Danish ship, which were proved in like manner at another trial (a), it was stipulated that no one should demand any money, while abroad, from the master, but every one should content himself with the money received upon hand, until the completion of the voyage to the satisfaction of the master and his owners, and until such time as the ship should have arrived at Altona; and it should at all times be at the option of the master to give them money while abroad, or not (b). Some cases relating to foreign seamen will be mentioned hereafter (c).] 4. Advance and Allotment Notes.-Savings' Banks for Seamen. By the Mercantile Marine Act, 13 & 14 Vict. c. 93 (now repealed), s. 58, it was provided that no advance note should be made except in forms sanctioned by the Board of Trade, and no advance of wages or advance note given except to the seaman himself, nor unless the agreement contained a stipulation for the same, and for the amount thereof, nor except in the presence of the shipping master, if the agreement were signed before a shipping master. Advances made and advance notes given contrary to these regulations were not to operate as a discharge of wages (d). These provisions, and some others in the Mercantile Marine Amendment Act, 14 & 15 Vict. c. 96, s. 17 (now repealed), on the same subject, have been omitted from the 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854. And it is by sect. 168 of that Act enacted that all stipulations for the allotment of any part of the wages of a seaman during his absence shall be inserted in the agreement, and shall state the amounts and times of the payments to be made, and shall be in forms sanctioned by the Board of Trade. Allotment notes, the drawing of which has been authorized by the owner or his agent in favour of the wife, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, child, grandchild, brother or sister of any seaman, may be sued upon by the allottee in the county court, or in the summary manner provided by the Act for the recovery by seamen of wages not dition of a note, by which the master agreed to pay, ten days after the ship sailed, 67. to any person who should advance 67. to R. H., a mariner, provided he sailed in the ship, was held by the Court of Common Pleas, WILLES, J. diss., to be satisfied by an advance to R. H. of 31. 5s. in cash, and 21. 15s. worth of wearing apparel. M'Kune v. Joynson, 5 C. B. (N.S.) 218; 28 L. J. C. P. 133. exceeding 507.; and the seaman will be presumed not to have for- Chap. 2. feited and to be duly earning his wages, unless the contrary be shown by evidence of the description mentioned in this section of the Act, or other evidence satisfactory in its absolute discretion to the court (e). But a wife who deserts her children, or becomes undeserving of support from her husband, forfeits all right to payments under any allotment of his wages which has been made in her favour (f). The Act also contains provisions for facilitating the remittance of wages to the relatives of seamen or other persons, by means of money orders, if the Board of Trade so direct, issued by the superintendents of mercantile marine offices: for the establishment of savings banks for seamen (g); and for charging upon the wages of absent seamen such relief as may be given out of poor rates to their families (h). Provision is also made, in the case of a ship not returning at once to the U. K., for payment of the wages of seamen who have died, to the British consular officer, or officer of customs, should they require it; or if not, for their payment by the master within 48 hours after his arrival at his port of destination in the U. K. to the superintendent of the mercantile marine office there, and for the rendering to them a complete account of the effects, money, and wages of any such seaman, in which no deductions shall be allowed but such as are verified by entries in an official log-book, or by such other vouchers as may reasonably be required (i). 5. Wages and Effects of deceased Seamen. Wages and effects of seamen dying at home, of whatever amount, are to be paid and delivered to the superintendent of the mercantile marine office of the port of discharge, or to the Board of Trade, or as it directs (k). If any seaman or apprentice as last aforesaid, or if any seaman or apprentice who within the six months preceding his death has belonged to a British ship (25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 20), dies abroad, the officers of customs and consuls are to take charge of his effects, and sell them if they think fit and remit to her Majesty's Paymaster General, and render such accounts thereof and at such times as the Board of Trade shall direct and require (1). A large discretion is given to the Board of Trade as to the payment of wages and delivery of effects to persons claiming under wills of scamen, unless such wills are in writing, and made and attested in the manner and by the persons prescribed by the Act; and whenever any claim under a will is rejected on this ground, the wages and effects of the deceased are to be dealt with as if no will had been made (m). Part V. Creditors of a deceased seaman are not to obtain a right to claim from the Board of Trade his wages and effects by taking out letters of administration, or by virtue of confirmation in Scotland as executor creditor, nor by any means whatever, if the debt occurred more than three years before the demand is made, or is not claimed within two years after the death of the deceased. The steps to be taken by a creditor for obtaining payment of his debt are prescribed. The Board of Trade is to have power to require full proof of the debt, with vouchers, and to disallow the claim if not established. It may also delay the investigation of any demand made by a creditor for a year, in order to give legatees and relations the opportunity of disputing the claim. And if the board pays to a legatee or relation, the creditor shall have the same rights and remedies against such person, as if he or she had received the same as the legal personal representative of the deceased (a). The 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63. ss. 21 & 22, contains further regulations for the recovery of the wages of seamen and apprentices lost with their ships, and for the relief of seamen found in distress abroad, for which the reader is referred to the Act in the appendix. (a) Sect. 201. CHAPTER III. OF THE LOSS AND FORFEITURE OF WAGES; AND HEREIN, SECTS. 1. Wages generally not payable unless Voyage performed, p. 477. 2. Of the Wages payable in Cases of Capture and Recapture, p. 478. 4. Forfeiture for wilful neglect of duty-Refusing to assist the Master in defend- 5. In case of Embezzlement by the Mariners, p. 487. [THE wages of seamen, whether hired by the month or for the voyage, are sometimes lost without any fault on their part; and sometimes forfeited by their misconduct. 1. Wages generally not payable unless Voyage performed. In order to stimulate the zeal and attention of this class of persons, who are often engaged in very perilous services, the policy of all maritime states has made the payment of their wages to depend generally on the successful termination of the voyage (b).] Before the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, s. 185, [if in the course of the voyage a total loss or capture of the ship took place, the seamen lost their wages. The wages are not lost by the hypothecation of the ship, nor even by the sale of it, unless the sale be made under the authority of a competent court; and they are preferred to the claim of the holder of any hypothecation bond (c).] A distinction is also made between those accidents by which voyages may be interrupted and the interests of mariners affected as dependant on their successful termination and other causes arising from the acts of the owners or masters, and it was held accordingly by Sir CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON, that the condemnation of a vessel for illegal trading on the part of the master, to which the mariners were not parties, did not work a forfeiture of wages, or bar the mariners' action against the owners (d). But where a mariner was obliged to leave his ship in the course of the voyage by the authority of the British Consul, and sent under 7 & 8 Vict. c. 112, s. 60, to England as a witness upon the trial of a person, for an offence committed on the high seas, it was held that the contract between him and his (b) [Molloy, book 2, chap. 3, sect. 10; 1 Sid. 179; Abernethy v. Landale, Dong. 539; French Ordin. liv. 3, tit. 4, Des Loyers des Matelots, art 8; Code de Com. art. 258]; but see ante, p. 464, and 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104, s. 183; ante, p. 465. (c) [Sydney Cove, 2 Dods. Ad. Rep. 11; Madonna D'Idra, 1 Dods. 37]; Lady Dur ham, 3 Hagg. 196. See post, Part VI., Chap. 3. (d) The Malta, 2 Hagg. 158, Chap. 3. |