SPANISH SEAMEN IN THE NEW WORLD 647 



Sailors, grummets, and boys were entitled to four months' 

 advance wages when enlisted. To prevent desertion, no pay was 

 to be given in the Indies, 80 unless a certificate could be presented 

 proving that the seaman had remained on account of illness, or 

 other legitimate excuse, which prevented him from returning 

 on the same vessel in which he came. 81 Among the crew of each 

 vessel in the India trade, 200 ducats above the regular pay was 

 to be distributed as a reward for meritorious service. 82 If the 

 men were not paid promptly within three days of when pay was 

 due, the master was liable to arrest, and for each day's delay, 

 every sailor was entitled to two reals, every grummet to a real 

 and a half, and every boy, one real. 83 



The conditions of life aboard the India ships were much the 

 same as elsewhere among Spanish seamen in the New World. The 

 ships were filthy, crowded, often unseaworthy, and inadequately 

 manned. The prevalence of shipwreck was frightful, and 

 buccaneers abounded. The profits were between 200 and 300 

 per cent, but the casualties also were enormous. 



The principal disciplinary offenses were blasphemy, gambling, 

 immorality, desertion, and crime. It was forbidden for any 

 sailor to go ashore at the Azores under penalty of 200 lashes and 

 ten years in the galleys. 84 Sometimes mariners deserted before 

 the ships left Spain. 85 But desertion in the Indies was the most 

 strictly prohibited, as it was the more common also, since many 

 came as seamen to evade the emigration laws. 



Permission to go ashore in the Indies was hedged about with 

 restrictions, and every effort was made to ascertain and punish 

 such as planned to desert. Guards were posted on the Porto 

 Bello-Panama road to catch fugitives. India officials and com- 

 manders of ships were ordered to do all in their power to appre- 

 hend and proceed against deserters, and those who gave them 

 refuge. Some seamen who wished to remain in the Indies sought 



80 Stevens, pp. 183, 184. 



Recopilacidn, Titulo XXI, Libro IX, Ley XLVI. 



vibid., Titulo XXV, Libro IX, Ley XXII. 



83 Stevens, p. 48. 



* Ibid., p. 176. 



5 Recopilaeidn, Titulo XXXIII, Libro IX, Ley XX 



