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Bond and oath

SEC. 4502. Every shipping-commissioner so appointed shall give bond of commissioner. to the United States, conditioned for the faithful performance of the

When officers

shall act as commissioners.

duties of his office, for a sum, in the discretion of the circuit judge, of not less than five thousand dollars, with two good and sufficient sureties therefor, to be approved by such judge; and shall take and subscribe the following oath before entering upon the duties of his office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and that I will truly and faithfully discharge the duties of a shipping-commissioner to the best of my ability, and according to law." Such oath shall be indorsed on the commission or certificate of appointment, and signed by him, and certified by the officer before whom such oath shall have been taken.

SEC. 4503. In any port in which no shipping-commissioner shall have of the customs been appointed, the whole or any part of the business of a shippingcommissioner shall be conducted by the col ector or deputy collector of customs of such port; and in respect of such business such custom-house shall be deemed a shipping-office, and the collector or deputy collector of customs to whom such business shall be committed, shall, for all purposes, be deemed a shipping-commissioner within the meaning of this Title.

Penalty for un- SEC. 4504. Any person other than a commissioner under this Title, lawfully acting who shall perform or attempt to perform, either directly or indirectly, as commissioner. the duties which are by this Title set forth as pertaining to a shippingcommissioner, shall be liable to a penalty of not more than five hundred dollars. Nothing in this Title, however, shall prevent the owner, or consignee, or master of any vessel except vessels bound from a port in the United States to any foreign port, other than vessels engaged in trade between the United States and the British North American possessions, or the West India Islands, or the republic of Mexico, and vessels of the burden of seventy-five tons or upward bound from a port on the Alantic to a port on the Pacific, or vice versa, from performing, himself, so far as his vessel is concerned, the duties of shipping-commissioner under this Title. Whenever the master of any vessel shall engage his crew, or any part of the same, in any collection-district where no shipping-commissioner shall have been appointed, he may perform for himself the duties of such commissioner.

Clerks of commissioner.

Seal of commissioner.

Ibid.

Office of commissioner.

Duties of commissioner.

SEC. 4505. Any shipping-commissioner may engage clerks to assist him in the transaction of the business of the shipping-office, at his own proper cost, and may, in case of necessity, depute such clerks to act for him in his official capacity; but the shipping-commissioner shall be held responsible for the acts of every such clerk or deputy, and will be personally liable for any penalties such clerk or deputy may incur by the violation of any of the provisions of this Title; and all acts done by a clerk, as such deputy, shall be as valid and binding as if done by the shipping commissioner.

SEC. 4506. Each shipping-commissioner shall provide a seal with which he shall authenticate all his official acts, on which seal shall be engraved the arms of the United States, and the name of the port or district for which he is commissioned. Any instrument, either printed or written, purporting to be the official act of a shipping-commissioner, and purporting to be under the seal and signature of such shippingcommissioner, shall be received as presumptive evidence of the official character of such instrument, and of the truth of the facts therein set forth.

SEC. 4507. Every shipping-commissioner shall lease, rent, or procure, at his own cost, suitable premises for the transaction of business, and for the preservation of the books and other documents connected therewith; and these premises shall be styled the shipping-commissioner's office.

SEC. 4508. The general duties of a shipping-commissioner shall be: First. To afford facilities for engaging seamen by keeping a register of their names and characters.

Second. To superintend their engagement and discharge, in manner prescribed by law.

Third. To provide means for securing the presence on board at the proper times of men who are so engaged.

Fourth. To facilitate the making of apprenticeships to the sea service. Fifth. To perform such other duties relating to merchant seamen or merchant ships as are now or may hereafter be required by law.

Shipping-arti

SEC. 4511. The master of every vessel bound from a port in the United Title 53, Chap. 2, States to any foreign port other than vessels engaged in trade between the United States and the British North American possessions, or the cles. West India Islands, or the republic of Mexico, or of any vessel of the burden of seventy-five tons or upward, bound from a port on the Atlantic to a port on the Pacific, or vice versa, shall, before he proceeds on such voyage, make an agreement, in writing or in print, with every seaman whom he carries to sea as one of the crew, in the manner hereinafter mentioned; and every such agreement shall be, as near as may be, in the form given in the table marked A, in the schedule annexed to this Title, and shall be dated at the time of the first signature thereof, and shall be signed by the master before any seaman signs the same, and shall contain the following particulars:

First. The nature and, as far as practicable, the duration of the intended voyage or engagement, and the port or country at which the voyage is to terminate.

Second. The number and description of the crew, specifying their respective employments.

Third. The time at which each seaman is to be on board, to begin work.

Fourth. The capacity in which each seaman is to serve.

Fifth. The amount of wages which each seaman is to receive.

Sixth. A scale of the provisions which are to be furnished to each

seaman.

Seventh. Any regulations as to conduct on board, and as to fines, short allowance of provisions, or other lawful punishments for misconduct, which may be sanctioned by Congress as proper to be adopted, and which the parties agree to adopt.

Eighth. Any stipulations in reference to advance and allotment of wages, or other matters not contrary to law.

SEC. 4512. The following rules shall be observed with respect to Rules for shipagreements:

First. Every agreement, except such as are otherwise specially provided for, shall be signed by each seaman in the presence of a shippingcommissioner.

Second. When the crew is first engaged the agreement shall be signed in duplicate, and one part shall be retained by the shipping-commissioner, and the other part shall contain a special place or form for the description and signatures of persons engaged subsequently to the first departure of the ship, and shall be delivered to the master.

Third. Every agreement entered into before a shipping-commissioner shall be acknowledged and certified under the hand and official seal of such commissioner. The certificate of acknowledgment shall be indorsed on or annexed to the agreement; and shall be in the following form: "State of

County of
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"On this personally appeared before me, a shipping-commissioner in and for the said county, A. B., C. D., and E. F., severally known to me to be the same persons who executed the foregoing instrument, who each for himself acknowledged to me that he had read or had heard read the same; that he was by me made acquainted with the conditions thereof, and understood the same; and that, while sober and not in a state of intoxication, he signed it freely and voluntarily, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned."

ping-articles.

SEC. 4513. The preceding section shall not apply to masters of vessels Exception as to where the seamen are by custom or agreement entitled to participate shipping-artiin the profits or result of a cruise or voyage, nor to masters of coast wise cles. nor to masters of lake-going vessels that touch at foreign ports; but seaman may, by agreement, serve on board such vessels a definite time, or, on the return of any vessel to a port in the United States, may reship and sail in the same vessel on another voyage, without the payment of additional fees to the shipping-commissioner, by either the seaman or the master.

SEC. 4514. If any person shall be carried to sea, as one of the crew on Penalty for board of any vessel making a voyage as herein before specified, without shipping without entering into an agreement with the master of such vessel, in the form agreement. and manner, and at the place and times in such cases required, the vessel shall be held liable for each such offense to a penalty of not more than two hundred dollars. But the vessel shall not be held liable for any person carried to sea, who shall have secretly stowed away himself

without the knowledge of the master, mate, or of any of the officers of the vessel, or who shall have falsely personated himself to the master, mate, or officers of the vessel, for the purpose of being carried to sea. Penalty for SEC. 4515. If any master, mate, or other officer of a vessel knowingly knowingly ship receives, or accepts, to be entered on board of any merchant-vessel, any ping seamen without articles. seaman who has been engaged or supplied contrary to the provisions of this Title, the vessel on board of which such seaman shall be found shall, for every such seaman, be liable to a penalty of not more than two hundred dollars.

Lost seamen may be replaced.

Shipping seamen in foreign ports.

SEC. 4516. In case of desertion, or of casualty resulting in the loss of one or more seamen, the master may ship a number equal to the number of whose services he has been deprived by desertion or casualty, and report the same to the United States consul at the first port at which he shall arrive, without incurring the penalty prescribed by the two preceding sections.

SEC. 4517. Every master of a merchant-vessel who engages any seaman at a place out of the United States, in which there is a consular officer or commercial agent, shall, before carrying such seaman to sea, procure the sanction of such officer, and shall engage seamen in his presence; and the rules governing the engagement of seamen before a shipping-commissioner in the United States, shall apply to such engagements made before a consular officer or commercial agent; and upon every such engagement the consular officer or commercial agent shall indorse upon the agreement his sanction thereof, and an attestation to the effect that the same has been signed in his presence, and otherwise duly made. Penalty for vio- SEC. 4518. Every master who engages any seaman in any place in lating preceding which there is a consular officer or commercial agent, otherwise than as required by the preceding section, shall incur a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars, for which penalty the vessel shall be held liable.

section.

Title 53, Chap. 3.

Effects of deceased seamen.

SEC. 4538. Whenever any seaman or apprentice belonging to or sent home on any merchant-vessel, whether a foreign-going or domestic vessel, employed on a voyage which is to terminate in the United States, dies during such voyage, the master shall take charge of all moneys, clothes, and effects which he leaves on board, and shall, if he thinks fit, cause all or any of such clothes and effects to be sold by auction at the mast or other public auction, and shall thereupon sign an entry in the official log-book, and cause it to be attested by the mate and one of the crew, containing the following particulars:

First. A statement of the amount of money so left by the deceased. Second. In case of a sale, a description of each article sold, and the sum received for each.

Third. A statement of the sum due to deceased as wages, and the total amount of deductions, if any, to be made therefrom.

Proceedings in SEC. 4539, In cases embraced by the preceding section, the following regard to effects rules shall be observed: of deceased sea

men.

First. If the vessel proceeds at once to any port in the United States, the master shall, within forty-eight hours after his arrival, deliver any such effects remaining unsold, and pay any money which he has taken charge of, or received from such sale, and the balance of wages due to the deceased, to the shipping-commissioner at the port of destination in the United States.

Second. If the vessel touches and remains at some foreign port before coming to any port in the United States, the master shall report the case to the United States consular officer there, and shall give to such officer any information he requires as to the destination of the vessel and probable length of the voyage; and such officer may, if he considers it expedient so to do, require the effects, money, and wages to be delivered and paid to him, and shall, upon such delivery and payment, give to the master a receipt; and the master shall within forty-eight hours after his arrival at his port of destination in the United States produce the same to the shipping-commissioner there. Such consular officer shall, in any such case, indorse and certify upon the agreement with the crew the particulars with respect to such delivery and payment.

Third. If the consular officer does not require such payment and delivery to be made to him, the master shall take charge of the effects, money, and wages, and shall, within forty-eight hours after his arrival at his port of destination in the United States, deliver and pay the same to the shipping-commissioner there.

Fourth. The master shall, in all cases in which any seaman or apprentice dies during the voyage or engagement, give to such officer or ship

ping-commissioner an account, in such form as they may respectively require, of the effects, money, and wages so to be delivered and paid; and no deductions claimed in such account shall be allowed unless verified by an entry in the official log-book, if there be any; and by such other vouchers, if any, as may be reasonably required by the officer or shipping-commissioner to whom the account is rendered.

Fifth. Upon due compliance with such of the provisions of this section as relate to acts to be done at the port of destination in the United States, the shipping-commissioner shall grant to the master a certificate to that effect. No officer of customs shall clear any foreign-going vessel without the production of such certificate.

to seaman's ef

SEC. 4540. Whenever any master fails to take such charge of the Penalty for money or other effects of a seaman or apprentice during a voyage, or to neglect in regard make such entries in respect thereof, or to procure such attestation to fects. such entries, or to make such payment or delivery of any money, wages, or effects of any seaman or apprentice dying during a voyage, or to give such account in respect thereof as is above directed, he shall be accountable for the money, wages, and effects of the seaman or apprentice to the circuit court in whose jurisdiction such port of destination is situate, and shall pay and deliver the same accordingly; and he shall, in addition, for every such offense, be liable to a penalty of not more than treble the value of the money or effects, or, if such value is not ascertained, not more than two hundred dollars; and if any such money, wages, or effects are not duly paid, delivered, and accounted for by the master, the owner of the vessel shall pay, deliver, and account for the same, and such money and wages and the value of such effects shall be recoverable from him accordingly; and if he fails to account for and pay the same, he shall, in addition to his liability for the money and value, be liable to the same penalty which is incurred by the master for a like offense; and all money, wages, and effects of any seaman or apprentice dying during a voyage shall be recoverable in the courts and by the modes of proceeding by which seamen are enabled to recover wages due to them.

ed seaman's ef

SEC. 4541. Whenever any such seaman or apprentice dies at any place Duties of conout of the United States, leaving any money or effects not on board of sular officers in his vessel, the consular officer of the United States at or nearest the regard to deceasplace shall claim and take charge of such money and effects, and shall, fects. if he thinks fit, sell all or any of such effects, or any effects of any deceased seaman or apprentice delivered to him under the provisions of this Title, and shall quarterly remit to the district judge for the district embracing the port from which such vessel sailed, or the port where the voyage terminates, all moneys belonging to or arising from the sale of the effects or paid as the wages of any deceased seamen or apprentices which have come to his hands; and shall render such accounts thereof as the district judge requires.*

SEC. 4548. Moneys paid under the laws of the United States, by Title 53, Chap. 4. direction of consular officers or agents, at any foreign port or place, as

wages, extra or otherwise, due American seamen, shall be paid in gold. Wages payable or its equivalent, without any deduction whatever, any contract to the in gold.

contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 4559. Upon a complaint in writing, signed by the first, or the Title 53, Chap. 5. 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 Appointment of inspectors by sea, because she is leaky, or insufficiently supplied with sails, rigging, consul in foreign anchors, or any other equipment, or that the crew is insufficient to man port. 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.

SEC. 4560. The inspectors appointed by any consul or commercial Report of inagent, in pursuance of the preceding section, shall have full power to spectors. 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

Unclaimed wages and effects, after six years, go to the fund for the relief of disabled and destitute seamen. § 4545.

count of unsea

vessel.

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. Discharge of SEC. 4561. The inspectors in their report shall also state whether, in seamen on ac- their opinion, the vessel was sent to sea unsuitably provided in any imworthiness of portant 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, have 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. [See §§ 1708, 1736, under head of DIPLOMATIC OFFICERS.]

Payment of SEC. 4562. The master shall pay all such reasonable charges for incharges for inspection under such complaint as shall be officially certified to him under spection.1 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.

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

Examination of provisions.

Forfeiture for

SEC. 4565. Any three or more of the crew of any merchant-vessel of the United States bound from a port in the United States to any foreign port, or being of the burden of seventy-five tons or upward, and bound from a port on the Atlantic to a port on the Pacific, or vice versa, may complain to any officer in command of any of the vessels of the United States Navy, or consular officer of the United States, or shipping-commissioner or chief officer of the customs, that the provisions or water for the use of the crew are, at any time, of bad quality, unfit for use, or deficient in quantity. Such officer shall thereupon examine the provisions or water, or cause them to be examined; and if, on examination, such provisions or water are found to be of bad quality and unfit for use, or to be deficient in quantity, the person making such examination shall certify the same in writing to the master of the ship. If such master does not thereupon provide other proper provisions or water, where the same can be had, in lieu of any so certified to be of a bad quality and unfit for use, or does not procure the requisite quantity of any so certified to be insufficient in quantity, or uses any provisions or water which have been so certified as aforesaid to be of bad quality and unfit for use, he shall, in every such case, be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars; and upon every such examination the officers making or directing the same shall enter a statement of the result of the examination in the log-book, and shall send a report thereof to the district judge for the judicial district embracing the port to which such vessel is bound; and such report shall be received in evidence in any legal proceedings.

SEC. 4566. If the officer to whom any such complaint, in regard to the false complaint. provisions or the water, is made, certifies in such statement that there was no reasonable ground for such complaint, each of the parties so complaining shall be liable to forfeit to the master or owner, out of his wages, a sum not exceeding one week's wages.

Permission to

SEC. 4567. If any seamen, while on board any vessel, shall state to enter complaint. the master that they desire to make complaint, in accordance with the two preceding sections, in regard to the provisions or the water, to a competent officer, against the master, the master shall, if the vessel is then at a place where there is any such officer, so soon as the service of the vessel will permit, and if the vessel is not then at such a place, so soon after her first arrival at such place as the service of the vessel will

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