Encourage ment to sea men. Institutions by act of parliament for the relief of dis abled and worn out seamen and their families. not less than 200 tons, nor furnished with less than 16 guns. The same act forbids him to yield without fighting to any Turkish pirate, not having double his guns. The seamen, who shall refuse to fight, are punished by the same act with the loss of their wages, their own goods on board the ship, and with an imprisonment and hard labour for a space not exceeding six months. IX. In order to encourage seamen to discharge their duty upon the occasion of ships being attacked by enemies or pirates, the Legislature has passed several acts, and created or enlarged several institutions, by which a provision is made for merchant seamen wounded or disabled in such conflicts, and for the widows and children of such as shall have been killed. By two of these acts, one of King William, and one of King Charles, (a) it is enacted that when any English vessel, which shall have been so defended against pirates or enemies, and in which conflict some of her crew have been disabled or wounded, shall arrive in port, the judge of the Admiralty, mayor, or other principal magistrate, shall summons four of the chief merchants of the town, and by their advice shall levy upon the owners of the ship and goods a reasonable compensation to the captain and crew for such defence: but such sum not to exceed 2 per cent. on the value of the ship, freight, and cargo. X. These provisions for encouraging merchant seamen in the performance of their duty, and for relieving and supporting such of them as shall be maimed and disabled, and for supporting the widows and children of such as shall be killed or wounded in the merchant service, have been further extended by three more recent statutes; (b) the two first of which enact, that such seamen shall be admitted into and provided for in Greenwich Hospital.-The last statute (c) provides another establishment, and a permanent corporation for the more ample accomplishment of the same object. The enactments of these statutes, stated in a summary manner, are, that every merchant seaman, except only apprentices, fishermen employed in boats and coasters, pilots, and seamen employed by the East India Company, shall pay sixpence a month out of their wages to this corporation, to be deducted by the master, and by him paid over to the charity. That a corporation of merchants, who are named in the act, shall be the managers of the charity; and may purchase land, erect an hospital, and give (a) 11 & 12 Will. 3. c. 7. s. 11. 22 & 23 Car. 2. c. 11. s. 10. (b) 8 Geo. 2. c. 24. 8 Geo. 2. c. 29. s. 10. 20 Geo. 2. c. 38. pensions to all merchant seamen rendered incapable of service by sickness, wounds, or other accidental misfortunes, and may relieve the widows end children of such as are killed or drowned in the merchant service; such children, however, not to exceed the age of fourteen years, unless rendered objects of charity by blindness, lameness, or other infirmity. Nor is any one to be deemed a worn out seamen, who shall not have been five years in the merchant service, and paid the contribution. The master is required always to keep a muster roll of his crew, and to deliver a duplicate of it before sailing to the collector of this contribution at the port from which he is about to sail. The master must likewise keep an account or report of all casualties to any of the crew during the voyage; and, upon his return, must give a duplicate to the collector. Provisions for and sending the subsistence home of seamen cast away XI. There are other statutes for the relief of hipwrecked or abandoned seamen, (a) by which his majesty's ministers or consuls abroad, or, if no official character be there resident, two or more British merchants, are commanded to give subsistence to any cast in foreign parts. away seaman in foreign parts, at the rate of sixpence a day, and to send them home with the first opportunity by some one of his Majesty's ships, or British merchant ships, sailing for England: every master of a British ship to receive, in case of need, four such cast away seamen for every hundred ton burthen of his ship, and to be paid sixpence per diem by the commissioners of the navy, for so many of them as he did not require to aid him in working his vessel. And if any master wilfully leave behind any of his crew, in any foreign part or distant British plantation, such men being in a condition to return with the ship at the time of her departure homewards, the master so offending is to suffer three months' imprisonment. (a) 1 Geo. 2. s. 2. c. 14. 11 & 12 Will. 3. c. 7. 266 CHAPTER V. OF THE WAGES OF MERCHANT SEAMEN. Seamen's wages. Written con tract between men must declare the wages; and the contract must be seaman, but need not be sealed. HAVING considered in the preceding Chapter the general dutics of the mariners, and of the master in hiring them, we proceed now to the consideration of the more extensive subject of seamen's wages. Under this head we shall have to explain, first, The mode of hiring seamen; secondly, That of earning their wages; thirdly, To what cases the law has annexed the forfeiture of their wages, in whole or part; and, fourthly, By what means they are recoverable at law. And, first, As to the hiring of the seamen. I. We have before stated that, by 2 Geo. 2. c. 36., made permaster and sea-petual by 2 Geo. 3. c. 31., the contract between the master and mariners must be in writing, and that such contract must declare "what wages each seaman or mariner is to have respectively, signed by each during the whole voyage, or for so long time as he or they shall ship themselves for; and also must express in the said agreement or contract the voyage for which such seaman or mariner was shipped to perform the same."(a) This contract must be signed by each seaman within three days after he shall have entered himself on board the ship. Such contract need not be sealed; and in Clement v. Gunhouse, (b) where it appeared that a seal was affixed, it was ruled by Mr. J. Chambre, at Nisi Prius, that, though sealed, it was still regarded in law only as an agreement, and not as a deed, and must be sued upon as such. Written con. tract necessary in the coasting trade: but need not be stamped. II. The two statutes abovementioned (c) comprehended vessels (a) 2 Geo. 2. c. 36. made perpetual by 2 Geo. 3. c. 31. This statute does not apply to the master's apprentices; and the penalty for not complying with its provisions is 57. from the master. (b) 5 Esp. N. P. C. 83. (c) 2 Geo. 2. c. 36. 2 Geo. 3. c. 31. engaged in the foreign trade beyond seas, and the British plantation trade only. The 31 Geo. 3. c. 39. extended their provisions to vessels of the burthen of one hundred tons or upwards, employed in the coasting trade from any port or place in Great Britain, to any other port or place in Great Britain, and going to open sea. Accordingly, in all the three branches of our trade, the foreign, the colonial, and the coasting, the agreement between the master and the mariners must be by a written contract: the contract must be signed by the master and each seaman respectively; but need not be sealed, nor, as respects vessels engaged in the coasting trade, need be stamped. (a) III. In the early part of the late war the masters of ships trading to the West Indies, having suffered great inconvenience from the desertion of their seamen, and from a competition amongst the masters themselves to seduce the crews of each other by the offer of higher wages, the 37 Geo. 3. c. 73. was passed, by which "every seaman, who shall desert at any time during the voyage, either out or home, from any British merchant ship trading to or from his Majesty's colonies and plantations in the West Indies, shall, over and above all punishments, penalties, and forfeitures, to which he is now by law subject, forfeit all the wages he may have agreed for, or be entitled to during the voyage, from the master or owner of the ship, on board of which he shall enter immediately after such desertion."(b) And in order to prevent the practice amongst masters of seducing the crews of each other, it is enacted by the second section of the same act, that every master or commander of any British merchant ship, who shall hire or engage to serve on board his ship or vessel, ány seaman, mariner, or other person, who shall, to the knowledge of such master, have deserted from any other ship or vessel, shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds." And by the next following section of the same statute it is enacted, that no master of a merchant ship shall hire or engage any seaman in the West Indies to serve on board his vessel, at greater wages or hire than double the monthly wages of the seamen hired by him at the time of his last departure from Great Britain; "unless the governor, chief magistrate, or collector of such port or place in the said colonies or plantations, shall think that greater or more wages or hire, than double the monthly wages aforesaid, should or ought to be given to such seaman, mariner, or other person as aforesaid, and do and shall ac (a) 31 Geo. c. 39. s. 10. (b) 37 Geo. 3 c. 73. s. I. For the penalties imposed by the act, see the act. Seamen deserting in the West India trade, outwards or homewards, to lose all their wages. Masters seducing the seamen of each other, hiring deserters, or giving more than douseaman hired in the West Indies, to forfeit one hun blewages to any dred pounds. In case of certificate from last ship, that cordingly authorize or direct the same to be given by writing under his hand; that in such case the master or commander of such ship shall be at liberty to pay, and the seaman to receive, such greater wages as such governor, chief magistrate, or collector, shall direct as aforesaid."(a) All such contracts to be void, and the master to forfeit one hundred pounds for any seaman so hired contrary to the provisions of the act. The same act, however, proany seaman has ceeds in a following section to make two exceptions, first, As to mariners producing a certificate of discharge from their last ship; and, secondly, In the case of necessity, hazardous service, or extraordinary duty proved upon oath, to mariners, who have not deserted from their last ship. (b) In both of these cases, the master is authorized to give more than double wages without the authority of the governor or other chief magistrate. The act then concludes by giving a form of the agreement between master and mariners, which its previous provisions require. not deserted, or in case of ex treme hazard proved on oath, a master may hire seamen in the West Indies at 'more than double wages, without a licence from the governor. Of the authority or licence given by the governor or other magistrate, in the West Indies, to hire seamen at more than double wages. IV. The authority or licence, which the governor or other magistrate in the West Indies must give in pursuance of this act, must not only authorize the master to hire such seaman at more than double wages: but must specify the rate of wages, and give the distinct permission of the governor, or other chief officer, to hire the seaman at the sum so expressed. The objeet of the act is to prevent a competition of the masters amongst each other to seduce the crews; and, in order to prevent this mischief, the law removes the master from the contract in the first instance, and substitutes the discretion of the governor, or other chief officer, in his place. The governor, therefore, must fix the sum for which such seaman in the West Indies may be hired; and the master may then oblige himself to give it. Accordingly in Rodgers v. Lacey, (c) where a licence had been given by a magis'trate in the West Indies, to the master of a ship, “to procure men on such terms as he could, to navigate the ship home," it was decided by the court, that this was not a compliance with the terms of the act; such a licence, so generally expressed, and leaving so much to the master, being in no degree calculated to meet the mischief, for the prevention of which the 37 Geo. 3. c. 73. was passed; and that, therefore, a mariner could not maintain an action on a promise made in pursuance of such licence, to pay wages exceeding the amount of double the wages agreed to be given to a person in the like situation on the outward voyage. (a) 37 Geo. 3. c. 73. s. 3. (c) 2 Bos. and Pull, 57 |