200 



COXGRESS, UNITED STATES. (AMEKIOAN MERCHANT MAKINE.) 



Atlantic to a Pacific port of the United States, any 

 such vessel is for anv reason deprived of the services 

 of an officer below the grade of master, his place, or a 

 vacancy caused by the promotion of another officer to 

 such piace, may be supplied by a person not a citizen 

 of the United btates until the first return of such ves- 

 sel to its home port ; and such vessel shall not be liable 

 to any penalty or penal tax for such employment of an 

 alien officer.'' 



SECTION 2. That section 4580 of the Revised Statutes 

 be amended so as to read as follows : 



" SEC. 4580. Upon the application of the master of 

 any vessel to a consular officer to discharge a seaman, 

 or upon the application of any seaman for his own dis- 

 charge, if it appears to such officer that such seaman 

 has completed nis shipping agreement, or is entitled 

 to his discharge under any act of Congress or accord- 

 ing to the general principles or usages of maritime law 

 as recognized in the United States, such officer shall 

 discharge said seaman, and require from the master 

 of said vessel, before such discharge shall be made, 

 payment of the wages which may then be due said 

 seaman ; but no payment of extra wages shall be re- 

 quired by any consular officer upon such discharge 

 of any seaman except as provided in this act." 



SBC. 3. That section 4583 of the Eevised Statutes 

 be amended so as to read as follows : 



" SBC. 4583. Whenever on the discharge of a seaman 

 in a foreign country, on his complaint that the vovage 

 is continued contrary to agreement, the consular officer 

 shall be satisfied that such voyage has ( been designedly 

 and unnecessarily prolonged m violation of the articles 



officer shall require the payment by the master of one 

 month's wages for such seaman over and above the 

 wages due at the time of discharge." 



SEC. 4. That section 4561 of the Eevised Statutes 

 be amended so as to read as follows : 



"SEO. 4561. The inspectors hi their report' shall also 

 state whether, in their 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 consular officer approves of such finding, he 

 shall discharge such of the crew as request it, and 

 shall require the payment by the master of one month's 

 wages for each seaman over and above the wages then 

 due. But if, in the opinton of the inspectors, the de- 

 tects or deficiencies found to exist have been the re- 

 sult of mistake or accident, and could not, in the ex- 

 ercise of ordinary care, have been known and provided 

 against before the sailing of the vessel, and the mas- 

 ter shall, in a reasonable time, remove or remedy the 

 causes of complaint, then the crew shall remain and 

 discharge their duty." 



SBC. 5. That section 45S2 of the Revised Statutes 

 be amended so as to read as follows : 



" SEO. 4582. Whenever a vessel of the United States 

 is sold in a foreign country, and her company dis- 

 charged, it shall be the duty of the master to produce 

 to the consular officer the certified list of his ship's 

 company, and also the shipping articles, and to pay 

 to said consular officer for every seaman so discharged 

 one month's wages over and above the wages which 

 may then be due to such seaman ; but in case the mas- 

 ter of the vessel so sold shall with the assent of said 

 seaman provide him with adequate employment on 

 board some other vessel bound to the port at which 

 ho was originally shipped, or to such other port as 

 may bo agreed upon by him, then no payment of extra 

 wages shall be required." 



SEO. 6. That section 4600 of the Revised Statutes 

 be amended so as to read as follows : 



" SEC. 4600. It shall be the duty of consular officers 

 to reclaim deserters and discountenance insubordina- 

 tion by every means within their power, and where 

 tho local authorities can be usefully employed for that 

 purpose, to lend their aid and use their exertions to 



that end in the most effectual manner. In all cases 

 where deserters are apprehended the consular officer 

 shall inquire into the facts ; and if he is satisfied that 

 the desertion was caused by unusual or cruel treat- 

 ment, he shall discharge the seaman, and require the 

 master of the vessel from which such seaman is dis- 

 charged to pay one month's wages over and above 

 the wages then due; and the officer discharging such 

 seaman shall enter upon the crew-list and shipping- 

 articles the cause of discharge, and the particulars in 

 which the cruelty or unusual treatment consisted, and 

 the facts as to his discharge or re-engagement, as the 

 case may be, and subscribe his name thereto officially." 



SEC. 7. That section 4581 of the Revised Statutes 

 be amended so as to read as follows : 



" SEO. 4581. If any consular officer, when discharg- 

 ing any s.eaman, shall neglect to require the payment 

 of and collect the arrears of wages and extra wages re- 

 quired to be paid in the case of the discharge of any 

 seaman, he shall be accountable to the United States 

 to the full amount thereof; and if any seaman after his 

 discharge shall have incurred any expense for board or 

 other necessaries at the place of his discharge, before 

 shipping again, or for transportation to the United 

 States, such expense shall be paid out of the arrears 

 of wages and extra wages received by the consular 

 officer which shall be retained for that purpose, and 

 the balance only paid over to such seaman." 



SEC. 8. That section 4584 of the Revised Statutes 

 be hereby repealed. 



SEC. 9. That section 4578 of the Revised Statutes be 

 amended so as to read as follows : 



" SEC. 4578. All masters of vessels of the United 

 States, and bound to some port of the same, are re- 

 quired to take such destitute seamen on board their 

 vessels, at the request of consular officers, and to 

 transport them to the port in the United States to 

 which ^such vessel may be bound, on sucli terms, not 

 exceeding ten dollars for each person for voyages of 

 not more than thirty days, and not exceeding twenty 

 dollars for each person for longer voyages, as may be 

 agreed Between the master and the consular officer ; 

 and said consular officer shall issue certificates for 

 such transportation, which certificates shall be as- 

 signable but if any such destitute seaman is so dis- 

 abled or ill as to be unable to perform duty, the con- 

 sular officer shall so certify in the certificate of trans- 

 portation, and such additional compensation shall be 

 paid as the First Comptroller of the Treasury shall 

 deem proper. Every such master who refuses to 

 receive and transport such seaman on the request or 

 order of such consular officer shall be liable to the 

 United States in a penalty of one hundred dollars for 

 each seaman so refused. The certificate of any such 

 consular officer, given under his hand and official seal, 

 shall be presumptive evidence of such refusal in any 

 court of law having jurisdiction for the recovery of 

 the penaltv._ No master of any vessel shall, how- 

 ever, be obliged to take a greater number than one 

 man to every one hundred tons burden of tho vessel 

 on any one voyage." 



SEC. 10. That it shall be and is hereby made un- 

 lawful in any case, to pay before leaving the port at 

 which such seaman may be engaged, to any seaman 

 wages in advance of the time when he has actually 

 earned the same, or to pay such advance wages to any 

 other person, or to pay any person, other than an officer 

 authorized by act of Congress to collect fees for such 

 service, any remuneration for the shipment of seamen. 

 Any person paying such advance wages or such remu- 

 neration shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, 

 upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine not less 

 than four times the amount of the wages so advanced 

 or remuneration so paid, and may be also imprisoned 

 for a period not exceeding six months, at the discretion 

 of the court. The payment of such advance wages or 

 remuneration shall in no case as herein provided ab- 

 solve the vessel, or the master or owner thereof, from 

 full payment of wa^cs after the same shall have been 

 actually earned, and shall be no defense to a libel suit, 



