644 THE HISPANIC AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 



grummet. 61 Sailors had to be between twenty and fifty years of 

 age. 62 Care had to be taken not to enlist passengers as mariners 

 or grummets for this was a favorite method of evading the emigra- 

 tion laws; 63 nor were mariners to be enrolled as soldiers, for the 

 former were none too plentiful. 64 On the ship's register was entered 

 the man's name, age, identification marks, place of birth, and his 

 father's name; also the man's rating, or capacity in which he was 

 to serve, together with his rate of pay, and the day. 65 



Sailors were bound to give security that they would serve and 

 earn their pay, and take an oath of obligation. 66 But his Catholic 

 majesty Philip II, in 1582, decreed that no pay or rations were 

 to be given a sailor unless he could produce a certificate from one 

 of the religious that he had been at confession. 67 



When a mariner was under contract to serve one master, it 

 was illegal for him to contract to serve another. If he did so, 

 the penalty was double the amount of salary he would have 

 earned, and twenty days in prison. The master who enticed 

 him away knowingly, was also punished. 68 



In the middle of the sixteenth century a gild of merchants 

 engaged in the India trade was organized in Seville. A little 

 later a hospital was founded for mariners who fell sick from the 

 India voyage, or working aboard ship. In 1569 the gild and 

 hospital united as the Universidad de los Mareantes, with the all 

 inclusive membership before enumerated. 69 Certain privileges 

 were granted to the umversidad by the king. Those which 

 included the mariners are given by Stevens as follows: 



61 Enemas, op. cit., IV. 152, cited, Haring, p. 277. 



6Z Jose de Veitia Linaje, Norte de la contratacion de las Indias Occidentals, 

 2 vols. in 1 (Sevilla, 1672). This work was made use of in the translation and 

 synopsis, Stevens, The Spanish rule of trade to the West-Indies (London, 1702), p. 

 166. Hereafter cited as Stevens. 



M Ibid., p. 45. 



64 Recopilacidn, Titulo XVI, Libro IX, Ley XII. 



65 Stevens, pp. 166, 187, 188. 

 w Ibid., p. 166. 



6T Ibid., p. 184. 



" Recopilacidn, Titulo XXV, Libro IX, Ley XVIII. 



* Haring, pp. 319, 320. 



