CHAPTER FIVE.

PROTECTION AND RELIEF.

4554. Commissioner to act as arbiter.

4555. Examination of witnesses.

4555. Complaint that vessel is unseaworthy.

4557. Proceedings upon examination of vessel after vessel found seaworthy.

4558. Penalty for refusal to proceed when vessel found seaworthy. 4559. Appointment of inspectors by consul in foreign ports.

4560. Report of inspectors.

4561. Discharge of seamen on account of unseaworthiness of vessel. 4562. Payment of charges for inspection.

4563. Refusal to pay wages, charges, and damages; penalty.

4564. Provisions.

4565. Examination of provisions.

4566. Forfeiture for false complaint.

4567. Permission to enter complaint.

4568. Allowance for reduction of provisions.

4569. Medicines.

4570. Penalty for failure to keep medicines.

4571. Weights and measures.

4572. Clothing and fuel.

4573. List of crew to be delivered to collector.

4574. Certificate to list.

4575. Rules as to list of crew.

4576. Bond for return of seamen.

4577. Return of seamen.

4578. Penalty for refusal to receive seamen.

4579. Additional allowance for transportation of destitute seamen. 4580. Extra wages on discharge.

4581. Penalty for neglect to collect extra wages.

4582. Extra wages upon discharge in case of sale.

4583. When extra wages may be remitted.

4584. Disposal of extra wages.

4585. Assessment of forty cents per month.

4586. Hospital dues of vessel sold abroad.

4587. No enrollment without payment.

4588. Certificate of citizenship.

4553. Protest upon impressment.

4590. Penalty for neglecting to make protest. 4591. List of certificates of citizenship.

§ 4554. Commissioner as arbiter.-Every shippingcommissioner shall hear and decide any question whatsoever between a master, consignee, agent, or owner, and any of his crew, which both parties agree in writing to submit to him; and every award so made by him shall be binding on both parties, and shall, in any legal proceedings which may be taken in the matter, before any court of justice, be deemed to be conclusive as to the rights of

parties. And any document under the hand and official seal of a commissioner purporting to be such submission or award, shall be prima-facie evidence thereof.

§ 4555. Examination of witnesses. In any proceeding relating to the wages, claims, or discharge of a seaman, carried on before any shipping-commissioner, under the provisions of this Title, such shipping-commissioner may call upon the owner, or his agent, or upon the master, or any mate, or any other member of the crew, to produce any log-books, papers, or other documents in their possession or power, respectively, relating to any matter in question in such proceedings, and may call before him and examine any of such persons, being then at or near the place, on any such matter; and every owner, agent, master, mate, or other member of the crew who, when called upon by the shipping-commissioner, does not produce any such books, papers, or documents, if in his possession or power, or does not appear and give evidence, shall, unless he shows some reasonable cause for such a default, be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars for each offense; and, on application made by the shipping-commissioner, shall be further punished, in the discretion of the court, as in other cases of contempt of the process of the court.

§ 4556. Complaint that vessel is unseaworthy. If the mate or first officer under the master, and a majority of the crew of any vessel, bound on a voyage to any foreign port, shall, after the voyage is begun, and before the vessel shall have left the land, discover that the vessel is too leaky, or is otherwise unfit in her crew, body, tackle, apparel, furniture, provisions, or stores. to proceed on the intended voyage, and shall require such unfitness to be inquired into, the master shall, upon the request of the mate or other officer and such majority, forthwith proceed to or stop at the nearest or most convenient port or place where such inquiry can be made, and shall there apply to the judge of the district court of that judicial district, if he shall there reside, or if not, to some justice of the peace of the city, town, or place, taking with him two or more of the crew who shall have made such request.

The William Harris, 1 Ware, 373; The Moslem, Olcott, 292. Rights of seamen under this section-U. S. v. Gwings, 1 Sprague, 75; Jordan v. Williams, 1 Curt. 69; 4 Law R. N. S. 421; The Irwin Kreplin, 4 Ben. 420; The Union, 4 Blatchf. 90; Knowlton v. Boss, 1 Sprague, 163; 2 Law R. N. S. 13. The law implies that the ship is seaworthy, and that good and sufficient provisions are supplied-Dixon v. The Cyrus, 2 Pet. Adm. 407; U. S. v. Mitchel, 3 Wash. C. C. 97; Desty S. & A. § 152.

§ 4557. Proceedings upon examination of vessel The judge or justice shall, upon such application of the master or commander, issue his precept directed to three persons in the neighborhood, the most skillful in maritime affairs that can be procured, requiring them to repair on board such vessel, and to examine the same in respect to the defects and insufficiencies complained of, and to make report to him, the judge or justice, as the case may be, in writing under their hands, or the hands of two of them, whether in any or in what respect the vessel is unfit to proceed on the intended voyage, and what addition of men, provisions, or stores, or what repairs or alterations in the body, tackle, or apparel will be necessary; and upon such report the judge or justice shall adjudge, and shall indorse on the report his judgment, whether the vessel is fit to proceed on the intended voyage; and if not, whether such repairs can be made or deficiencies supplied where the vessel then lies, or whether it is necessary for her to return to the port from whence she first sailed, to be there refitted; and the master and crew shall in all things conform to the judgment. The master or commander shall, in the first instance, pay all the costs of such view, report, and judgment, to be taxed and allowed on a fair copy thereof, certified by the judge or justice. But if the complaint of the crew shall appear, upon the report and judgment, to have been without foundation, the master or commander, or the owner or consignee of such vessel, shall deduct the amount thereof, and of reasonable damages for the detention, to be ascertained by the judge or justice, out of the wages growing due to the complaining seamen.

§ 4558. Refusal to proceed when vessel found seaworthy.-If after judgment that such vessel is fit to proceed on her intended voyage, or after procuring such men, provisions, stores, repairs, or alterations as may be directed, the seamen, or either of them, shall refuse to proceed on the voyage, it shall be lawful for any justice of the peace to commit, by warrant under his hand and seal, every such seaman who refuses to the common jail of the county, there to remain without bail or maiuprise until he has paid double the sum advanced to him at the time of subscribing the contract for the voyage, together with such reasonable costs as are allowed by the justice, and inserted in the warrant; and the sureties of such seaman, in case he has given any, shall remain liable for such payment; nor shall any such seaman be discharged upon any writ of habeas corpus or otherwise, for want of any form

of commitment, or other previous proceedings, until such sum is paid by him or his surety, if sufficient matter be made to appear, upon the return of such habeas corpus, and an examination then had, to detain him for the causes herein before assigned.

The Moslem, Olcott, 292.

§ 4559. Appointment of inspectors by consul.— Upon a complaint in writing, signed by the first, or the second and third officers and a majority of the crew, of any vessel while in a foreign port, that such vessel is in an unsuitable condition to go to sea, because she is leaky, or insufficiently supplied with sails, rigging, anchors, or any other equipment, or that the crew is insufficient to man her, or that her provisions, stores, and supplies are not, or have not been, during the voyage, sufficient and wholesome, thereupon, in any of these or like cases, the consul or a commercial agent who may discharge any duties of a consul, shall appoint two disinterested, competent, practical men, acquainted with maritime affairs, to examine into the causes of complaint, who shall, in their report, state what defects and deficiencies, if any, they find to be well founded, as well as what, in their judgment, ought to be done to put the vessel in order for the continuance of her voyage.

Jordan v. Williams, 1 Curt. 70.

§ 4560. Report of inspectors.-The inspectors appointed by any consul or commercial agent, in pursuance of the preceding section, shall have full power to examine the vessel and whatever is aboard of her, so far as is pertinent to their inquiry, and also to hear and receive any other proofs which the ends of justice may require; and if, upon a view of the whole proceedings, the consul or other commercial agent is satisfied therewith, he may approve the whole or any part of the report, and shall certify such approval; or if he dissents, he shall certify his reasons for dissenting.

§ 4561. Discharge of seamen, unseaworthiness. The inspectors in their report shall also state whether, intheir opinion, the vessel was sent to sea unsuitably provided in any important or essential particular, by neglect or design, or through mistake or accident, and in case it was by neglect or design, and the consul or other commercial agent approves of such finding, he shall discharge such of the crew as require it, each of whom shall be entitled to three months' pay in addition to his wages to the

time of discharge; but if, in the opinion of the inspectors, the defects or deficiencies found to exist have been the result of mistake or accident, and could not, in the exercise of ordinary care, bave been known and provided against before the sailing of the vessel, and the master shall, in a reasonable time, remove or remedy the causes of complaint, then the crew shall remain and discharge their duty; otherwise they shall, upon their request, be discharged, and receive each one month's wages in addition to their pay up to the time of discharge.

Lists of seamen, vessels, etc., to be kept, and returns to be made by consuls-Rev. Stats. sec. 1708. Neglect of duty by consul or com mercial agent is punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years nor less than one, and by fine of not more than ten thousand dollars nor less than one thousand dollars-Rev. Stats. sec. 1736.

§ 4562. Charges for inspection.-The master shall pay all such reasonable charges for inspection under such complaint as shall be officially certified to him under the hand of the consul or commercial agent; but in case the inspectors report that the complaint is without any good and sufficient cause, the master may retain from the wages of the complainants, in proportion to the pay of each, the amount of such charges, with such reasonable damages for detention on that account as the consul or commercial agent directing the inquiry may officially certify. The William Harris, 1 Ware, 373.

§ 4563. Refusal to pay wages and charges.-Every master who refuses to pay such wages and charges shall be liable to each person injured thereby in damages, to be recovered in any court of the United States in the district where such delinquent may reside or be found, and in addition thereto be punishable by a fine of one hundred dollars for each offense.

§ 4564. Provisions.-Every vessel belonging to a citizen of the United States, bound on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, shall, at the time of leaving the last port from whence she sails, have on board, well secured under deck, at least sixty gallons of water, one hundred pounds of salted flesh meat, and one hundred pounds of wholesome ship-bread, for every person on board such vessel, besides such other provisions, stores, and live-stock as shall by the master or passengers be put on board, and in like proportion for shorter or longer voyages.

DESTY C. & N.-15.