1873. own vessel and of her port of registry, or of the port or place to M. S. Act, which she belongs, and also the names of the ports or places from which and to which she is bound. If he fails so to do, and no reasonable cause for such failure is shown, the collision shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to be caused by his wrongful act, neglect or default. 17. If, in any case of collision, it is proved to the Court before Ship which infringes which the case is tried that any of the regulations for preventing regulations collision contained in or made under the Merchant Shipping Acts, to be 1854 to 1873, have been infringed, the ship by which such regulation fault." has been infringed shall be deemed to be in fault, unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that the circumstances of the case made departure from the regulation necessary. deemed in (3) Wages. THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1854. 17 & 18 VICT. c. 104. PART III. MASTERS AND SEAMEN. with sea taining certain par ticulars. 149. The master of every ship, except ships of less than eighty Agreements tons registered tonnage exclusively employed in trading between to be made different ports on the coasts of the United Kingdom, shall enter into men, conan agreement with every seaman whom he carries to sea from any port in the United Kingdom as one of his crew in the manner hereinafter mentioned; and every such agreement shall be in a form sanctioned by the Board of Trade, and shall be dated at the time of the first signature thereof, and shall be signed by the master before any scanian signs the same, and shall contain the following particulars as terms thereof; (that is to say,) (1.) The nature, and, as far as practicable, the duration of the (2.) The number and description of the crew, specifying how (3.) The time at which each seaman is to be on board or to (4.) The capacity in which each seaman is to serve: (5.) The amount of wages which each seaman is to receive: seaman: (7.) Any regulations as to conduct on board, and as to fines, 1854. Proviso as colonial M. S. Act, And every such agreement shall be so framed as to admit of stipu lations, to be adopted at the will of the master and seamen in each case, as to advance and allotment of wages, and may contain any other stipulations, which are not contrary to law; provided that if to forms for the master of any ship belonging to any British possession has an agreement with his crew made in due form according to the law of the possession to which such ship belongs or in which her crew were engaged, and engages single seamen in the United Kingdom, such seamen may sign the agreement so made, and it shall not be necessary for them to sign an agreement in the form sanctioned by the Board ships. For foreign of Trade. 150. In the case of all foreign-going ships, in whatever part of going ships, her Majesty's dominions the same are registered, the following rules shall be observed with respect to agreements; (that is to say,) such agree ments, when made in the United Kingdom, except in special cases, to be made before and attested by a shipping master. To be in duplicate. Provision for substitutes. Foreign going ships making short have run ning agreements. (1.) Every agreement made in the United Kingdom (except in such cases of agreements with substitutes as are hereinafter specially provided for) shall be signed by each seaman in the presence of a shipping master: (2.) Such shipping master shall cause the agreement to be read over and explained to each seaman, or otherwise ascertain that each seaman understands the same before he signs it, and shall attest each signature: (3.) When the crew is first engaged the agreement shall be signed in duplicate, and one part shall be retained by the shipping master, and the other part shall contain a special place or form for the descriptions and signatures of substitutes or persons engaged subsequently to the first departure of the ship, and shall be delivered to the master: (4.) In the case of substitutes engaged in the place of seamen who have duly signed the agreement, and whose services are lost within twenty-four hours of the ship's putting to sea, by death, desertion, or other unforeseen cause, the engagement shall, when practicable, be made before some shipping master duly appointed in the manner herein before specified; and whenever such last-mentioned engagement cannot be so made, the master shall, before the ship puts to sea, if practicable, and if not, as soon afterwards as possible, cause the agreement to be read over and explained to the seaman; and the seaman shall thereupon sign the same in the presence of a witness, who shall attest their signatures. 151. In the case of foreign-going ships making voyages averaging less than six months in duration, running agreements with the crew may be made to extend over two or more voyages, so that no such Voyages may agreement shall extend beyond the next following thirtieth day of June or thirty-first day of December, or the first arrival of the ship at her port of destination in the United Kingdom after such date, or the discharge of cargo consequent upon such arrival; and every person entering into such agreement, whether engaged upon the first commencement thereof or otherwise, shall enter into and sign the same in the manner hereby required for other foreigngoing ships; and every person engaged thereunder, if discharged in the United Kingdom, shall be discharged in the manner hereby required for the discharge of seamen belonging to other foreign- M. S. Act, going ships. 1854. seamen in 152. The master of every foreign-going ship for which such a Engagement running agreement as aforesaid is made shall, upon every return to and disany port in the United Kingdom before the final termination of the charge of agreement, discharge or engage before the shipping master at such the meanport any seamen whom he is required by law so to discharge or time. engage, and shall upon every such return endorse on the agreement a statement (as the case may be) either that no such discharges or engagements have been made or are intended to be made before the ship again leaves port, or that all such discharges or engagements have been duly made as hereinbefore required, and shall deliver the agreement so endorsed to the shipping master ; and any master who wilfully makes a false statement in such endorsement shall incur a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds; and the shipping master shall also sign an endorsement on the agreement to the effect that the provisions of this Act relating to such agreement have been complied with, and shall re-deliver the agreement so endorsed to the master. agreements, 153. In cases in which such running agreements are made, the Duplicates duplicate agreement retained by the shipping master upon the first of running engagement of the crew shall either be transmitted to the registrar how to be general of seamen immediately, or be kept by the shipping master dealt with until the expiration of the agreement, as the Board of Trade directs. running 154. For the purpose of determining the fees to be paid upon the Fees to be engagement and discharge of seamen belonging to foreign-going ships paid on such which have running agreements as aforesaid, the crew shall be con- agreements. sidered to be engaged when the agreement is first signed, and to be discharged when the agreement finally terminates, and all intermediate engagements and discharges shall be considered to be engagements and discharges of single seamen. agreement 155. In the case of home-trade ships, crews or single seamen may, In homeif the master thinks fit, be engaged before a shipping master in the trade ships manner herein before directed with respect to foreign-going ships; to be entered and in every case in which the engagement is not so made, the into before a shipping master shall, before the ship puts to sea, if practicable, and if not, as master or sson afterwards as possible, cause the agreement to be read over and other explained to each seaman, and the seaman shall thereupon sign the witness. same in the presence of a witness, who shall attest his signature. same 156. In cases where several home-trade ships belong to the same Special owner, the agreement with the seamen may, notwithstanding any-rement thing herein contained, be made by the owner instead of by the trade ships master, and the seamen may be engaged to serve in any two or more belonging to of such ships, provided that the names of the ships and the nature of owners. the service are specified in the agreement; but with the foregoing exception all provisions herein contained which relate to ordinary agreements for home-trade ships shall be applicable to agreements made in pursuance of this section. to be void 163. Every erasure, interlineation, or alteration in any such Alterations agreement with seamen as is required by the third part of this Act unless (except additions so made as hereinbefore directed for shipping sub- attested to stitutes or persons engaged subsequently to the first departure of made with the ship) shall be wholly inoperative, unless proved to have been the consent have been M. S. Act, made with the consent of all the persons interested in such erasure, 1854. of all parties. Seamen not to be bound to produce agreement. Seamen discharged before Voyage to have compensation. Regulations as to allotment notes. Allotment notes may be sued on summarily by certain persons and under ditions. interlineation, or alteration by the written attestation (if made in her Majesty's dominions) of some shipping master, justice, officer of customs, or other public functionary, or (if made out of her Majesty's dominions) of a British consular officer, or where there is no such officer, of two respectable British merchants. 165. Any seaman may bring forth evidence to prove the contents of any agreement or otherwise to support his case, without producing or giving notice to produce the agreement or any copy thereof. 167. Any seaman who has signed an agreement, and is afterwards discharged before the commencement of the voyage, or before one month's wages are earned, without fault on his part justifying such discharge and without his consent, shall be entitled to receive from the master or owner, in addition to any wages he may have earned, due compensation for the damage thereby caused to him, not exceeding one month's wages, and may, on adducing such evidence as the Court hearing the case deems satisfactory of his having been so improperly discharged as aforesaid, recover such compensation as if it were wages duly earned. ALLOTMENT OF WAGES. 168. All stipulations for the allotment of any part of the wages of a seaman during his absence which are made at the commencement of the voyage shall be inserted in the agreement, and shall state the amounts and times of the payments to be made; and all allotment notes shall be in forms sanctioned by the Board of Trade. 169. The wife, or the father or mother, or the grandfather or grandmother, or any child or grandchild, or any brother or sister of any seaman in whose favour an allotment note of part of the wages of such seaman is made, may, unless the seaman is shown in manner hereinafter mentioned to have forfeited or ceased to be entitled to the certain con- wages out of which the allotment is to be paid, and subject as to the wife, to the provision hereinafter contained, sue for and recover the sums allotted by the note when and as the same are made payable, with costs, from the owner or any agent who has authorized the drawing of the note, either in the County Court or in the summary manner in which seamen are by this Act enabled to sue for and recover wages not exceeding fifty pounds; and in any such proceeding it shall be sufficient for the claimant to prove that he or she is the person mentioned in the note, and that the note was given by the owner or by the master or some other authorized agent; and the seaman shall be presumed to be duly earning his wages, unless the contrary is shown to the satisfaction of the Court, either by the official statement of the change in the crew caused by his absence made and signed by the master, as by this Act is required, or by a duly certified copy of some entry in the official log-book to the effect that he has left the ship, or by a credible letter from the master of the ship to the same effect, or by such other evidence, of whatever description, as the Court in its absolute discretion considers sufficient to show satisfactorily that the seaman has ceased to be entitled to the wages out of which the allotment is to be paid: provided that the wife of any seaman who deserts her children, or so misconducts her self as to be undeserving of support from her husband, shall thereupon forfeit all right to further payments of any allotment of his wages M. 8. Act, which has been made in her favour. DISCHARGE AND PAYMENT OF WAGES. from 1854. before 170. In the case of all British foreign-going ships, in whatever part Discharge of her Majesty's dominions the same are registered, all seamen dis- foreigncharged in the United Kingdom shall be discharged and receive their going ships wages in the presence of a shipping master duly appointed under this to be made Act, except in cases where some competent Court otherwise directs: shipping and any master or owner of any such ship who discharges any sea- master. mau belonging thereto, or, except as aforesaid, pays his wages within the United Kingdom in any other manner, shall incur a penalty not exceeding ten pounds; and in the case of home-trade ships seamen may, if the owner or master so desires, be discharged and receive their wages in like manner. deliver account of 171. Every master shall, not less than twenty-four hours before Master to paying off or discharging any seaman, deliver to him, or, if he is to be discharged before a shipping master, to such shipping master, a full wages. and true 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, and in default shall for each offence incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds; and no deduction from the wages of any seaman (except in respect of any matter happening after such delivery) shall be allowed unless it is included in the account so delivered; and the master shall during the voyage enter the various matters in respect of which such deductions are made, with the amounts of the respective deductions, as they occur, in a book to be kept for that purpose, and shall, if required, produce such book at the time of the payment of wages, and also upon the hearing before any competent authority of any complaint or question relating to such payments. master may parties refer 173. Every shipping master shall hear and decide any question Shipping whatever between a master or owner and any of his crew which both decide quesparties agree in writing to submit to him; and every award so made tions which by him shall be binding on both parties, and shall in any legal pro- parties. ceeding which may be taken in the matter before any Court of justice be deemed to be conclusive as to the rights of the parties; and no such submission or award shall require a stamp; and any document purporting to be such submission or award shall be primâ facie evidence thereof. 175. The following rules shall be observed with respect to the Settlement settlement of wages; (that is to say), of wages. Release to be signed before and attested by the shipping master. (1.) Upon the completion before a shipping master of any dis- And to be evidence. |