Discharge of Seamen.

offenses, nor for a single offense, unless of a very aggravated character.

146..He must be satisfied that the officer or seaman is either absolutely incompetent to perform the work he has contracted to do, that he has been guilty of such acts of insubordination as to make him dangerous to a man of ordinary firmness, or that his habitual misconduct (such as drunkenness, for instance) amounts to unfitness for duty, or, if an officer, that he has been guilty of habitual cruelty.

147..Cases have occurred, also, in which Consuls have, with the subsequent approval of the Department, removed masters of vessels and appointed others in their place to complete the voyage. Good cause must be shown for the exercise of this extreme power. (See Form 17 for the certificate to the new master in such case.)

DEMAND OF THREE MONTHS' EXTRA WAGES.

148.. It is the duty of all Consular Officers of the United States, when seamen or mariners are thus discharged within their jurisdiction, to collect of the vessel three months' pay over and above the wages which may then be due to such mariner or seaman, in the following cases: 1st. When a ship or vessel belonging to a citizen of the United States shall be sold in a foreign country and her company discharged. 2d. When a seaman or mariner shall, with his own consent, be discharged in a foreign country. 3d. When a vessel has been condemned by inspectors, as above stated. 4th. When on the complaint of a mariner that the voyage is continued contrary to his agreement, or that he has fulfilled his contract, the complaint is found to be well founded and the mariner is discharged; but in this case, if the Consul is satisfied that the voyage has been protracted by circumstances beyond the control of the master, and without any design on his part to violate the articles of shipment, he may, if he deems it just, discharge the mariner without directing the three months' extra pay. No payment of extra wages is to be required in cases of wrecked or stranded ships or vessels, or ships or vessels condemned as unfit for service.

149.. With these exceptions the Consul must in all cases exact the three months' extra wages, as he is made by law personally accountable therefor. It is the object of the law to secure in all cases

Demand of three months' extra wages.

the humane care of the seaman while under the protection of the Consul, and his speedy return to the United States.

150..He will also exact and collect all arrears of wages then due the discharged mariners or seamen, which he will pay to the persons entitled to them without any deduction. It is the duty of the master to exhibit the list of the ship's company to the Consul, to enable him to comply with this request.

151.. Of the extra wages collected one-third belongs to the United States; the other two-thirds to the discharged seaman; except in the case of a vessel condemned by inspectors on complaint of the officers and crew, in which case all belongs to the seaman. Receipt see Form 18.)

(For

152..The discharged seaman is not to be paid unless he has engaged on board of some other vessel as a seaman, or to return to the United States, and does not previous to his sailing become a charge upon the Consulate. In the latter case only the residue of the two months' extra wages is to be paid to him.

153..Seamen discharged in foreign ports are sometimes credited on the ship's books at a merely nominal rate, and the relief fund not unfrequently suffers detriment in consequence of this device to avoid the payment of extra wages in full. Consuls will therefore be watchful to thwart such practices in future, and in any case where the return made by the master fraudulently disagrees with the customary schedule of compensation in the marine service, they are instructed to exact the highest rate of wages paid to any seaman shipped for the voyage, or the sum actually agreed to be given him at his shipment, if it can be ascertained, whatever may be the sum falsely stated in the article.

154.. When seamen have been shipped on board of American vessels without the rate of their wages being specified on the shipping articles, as on board of whaling ships where they are shipped by the "lay," they shall be entitled, upon their discharge at a foreign port, to the sum of twenty dollars per month as "extra wages."

RELIEF OF DESTITUTE SEAMEN.

155.. Two things are necessary to entitle the claimant to relief: 1st. That he is a seaman of the United States within the terms of

Relief of Destitute Seamen.

the law as already defined; 2d. That he is destitute. Of each of these facts the Consul must be the judge.

156..A destitute deserter may be entitled to relief equally with a discharged seaman.

157..The relief afforded will comprise lodgings, subsistence, clothing, medical attendance and medicines, and transportation to the United States. The Consul must not be interested, directly or indirectly, in any of the articles so furnished. If it appears that he is so interested he will be immediately removed.

158.. The lodgings should be in some healthy locality, removed, if possible, from scenes of temptation and vice.

159..The subsistence should be simple and healthy, if furnished by the Consul. It is usual, however, to contract for the board of such seamen.

160.. The clothing should be of the cheapest kind, consistent with strength and durability, and such as sailors are accustomed to wear. If there is much call for relief of this kind the clothing should be bought in parcels and distributed as wanted.

161.. The medical attendance and medicines should be found at a hospital, if there be such in the place, unless specially instructed otherwise. (See Forms 19 and 20.)

162..If private treatment is had, the reasons must be communicated to the Department.

163..The transportation should be made at the earliest possible day, and is provided for by law. All masters and commanders of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, and bound to some port of the same, are required to take such mariners or seamen on board their vessels at the request of the Consular Officers, and to transport them to the port in the United States to which such vessel may be bound, on such terms, not exceeding $10 for each person, as may be agreed between the master and the Consular Officer; but no vessel shall be obliged to take a greater number than two men for every one hundred tons burden.

164..Consular officers will be careful to send all American seamen found destitute within their districts to the United States, giving to the master of the vessel on board of which they are placed, a certificate, in accordance with Form 21, setting forth their names and the amount to be paid for their passage, which amount will be

Relief of Destitute Seamen.

promptly remitted upon the receipt at the Treasury Department of the said certificate, bearing an indorsement of the collector of the customs that the seamen therein mentioned have arrived in said vessel within his district. Passages paid by Consuls will not be allowed without satisfactory explanation and proof of the delivery of the seamen at the port to which such passages were paid.

165..They may also contract with masters of foreign vessels, at reasonable rates, when opportunities by American vessels do not offer.

166..In such cases the reasons for the payment of increased compensation should be stated in the consular certificate.

167.. When a greater number of seamen is sent in a vessel than she is by her tonnage required to take, or when a greater amount is allowed for the passage than is prescribed by law, a certificate must be transmitted that there were no other American vessels then in port bound for the United States, in accordance with Form 22.

168..The Department has had reason to complain of the detention of seamen at some Consulates for long periods of time. There can be but two reasons for this practice: 1. A deficiency of American or other vessels bound to the United States, by which they may be sent home. 2. Such a state of infirm health of the seamen as would render it improper to send them on the voyage. In order to guard against an improper expenditure from this cause, the accounting officers suspend, in the adjustment of consular accounts, all charges for relief afforded to seamen who have been for more than three months chargeable to the United States, unless the accounts are accompanied by satisfactory evidence, first, that the detention was caused by a want of vessels in which they might have been shipped to the United States; or, second, that the health of the seamen was in such a state that it would endanger their lives to send them on the homeward voyage. The evidence in the latter case is to be the certificate, as per Form 23, of the attending physician. Unless it is furnished the drafts of the Consul will not be paid.

169..In places where opportunities of sending seamen home seldom occur, and employment on board of American vessels cannot be obtained, the Consular Officer may ship them to an intermediate

Relief of Destitute Seamen.

port where they may be likely to find such employment or a passage to the United States. He will, in this case, make a specific agreement with the master of the vessel, at the most reasonable rate, for their passage; giving to him a draft on the Secretary of State for the amount, on the face of which it must be expressed that its payment shall be upon the sole condition that there shall be indorsed upon it a certificate of the Consular Officer at the port to which the vessel may be bound, that the seamen named have arrived at his Consulate. In the exercise of this discretion he will take into consideration the relative cost of keeping the seamen where they are and at the port to which they can be sent, together with the expense of their passage thither and the probability of their obtainining employment there or a passage home, and adopt the course which may seem best, having a due regard for the interest of the United States and a proper concern for the seamen.

170..As it is sometimes necessary to transport seamen from seas and districts where there are no United States Consuls, Vice-Consuls, Commercial Agents, or Vice-Commercial Agents, Congress, by an act approved February 28, 1811, has authorized the Comptroller of the Treasury to make such additional allowance as shall be deemed to be equitable. This may be in excess of the $10 authorized by law.

171..The amount allowed for passage to the United States of destitute American seamen is payable at the treasury of the United States, and not by the collectors of ports. The certificate for such compensation should be made in accordance with Form 21, and be transmitted to the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury at Washington. All accounts are to be in the name of the principal Consular Officer, and drafts on the Department made by those officers only. No account or draft of a Vice-Consul or Vice-Commercial Agent will be attended to, unless in the absence of the principal Consular Officer from his post; in which case a certificate of that fact must accom pany the account.

ARTICLE XIV.

Disputes between Masters, Officers, and Crew.

172..In the absence of a treaty or convention with the power within whose dominions the Consul resides, he has no jurisdiction