Maritime Lien.-It remains to consider the question of the Master's Maritime Lien. This is one of the safeguards with which he is provided by the Legislature, so that he may not lose by his action on behalf of the ship. The history and origin of this right are quite outside the scope of a work of this kind. It will be sufficient for our purpose for us to realise that the master can, like any other employé, sue the person who engaged him, for his salary. But he has an additional and peculiar remedy. He has a claim against the ship. And this he can prosecute after he has left her, provided he does not lose his right against the res (or the thing in respect of which he has expended his time and labour) by his delay or neglect to prosecute his claim in due course, to the prejudice of others. Nor will the fact that the ship has changed hands by process of sale, or been taken possession of by a mortgagee, bar his right to be reimbursed. This right is given not only to the master appointed by the owner of the ship, but also to any person who properly exercises the duty of master (as, for example, a substitute appointed by a Naval Court abroad), and also to the officers and crew of the vessel. It covers not only wages, but also any proper out-ofpocket expenditure made on account of the vessel, and extends to any proper liability incurred on her account. It is, perhaps, needless to say that it does not apply to reckless or improper expenditure; for here, as in every other capacity, the master has to act as a prudent man would do in his own affairs, when he undertakes to act on behalf of the shipowner. Before, then, he can make use of his maritime lien, he has to justify his claim and show that the expenditure was necessary, or that it was such as either actually benefited the adventure, or, at the time it was made, seemed to be reasonably likely to do so, and, under these circumstances, that it was a proper case for such expenditure to be made by him. CHAPTER III. THE MASTER'S DUTY IN RESPECT OF THE CREW. CONTENTS.-Engagement (A) ENGAGEMENT. Agreements Home-trade Agreements Agreements with Crews of Foreign-going Ships-Running Agreements Engagement. get a crew. Having got a ship, the master must proceed to Here he begins to find in how many details the anxiety of the Government is displayed towards providing for the good of those who go down to the sea in ships. The law is now very precise on the point of engagement of seamen, as it desires to protect them and their earnings from the rapacity of the hangers-on who prey upon them. Accordingly there are penalties for persons who supply seamen without a licence, and for persons who take seamen from such unlicensed persons, and for those who receive remuneration, save as by the Merchant Shipping Act provided, from men who have obtained, or seek to obtain, employment. Agreements.—A penalty is now imposed upon masters who take seamen to sea without proper agreements.* And this rule applies to the case of all ships except home-trade vessels of less than eighty tons register. It is, therefore, very important to know the forms of which the Board of Trade approves. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 enacts that the agreement shall contain the following particulars: (a) Either the nature, and as far as practicable, the duration of the intended voyage or engagement, or the maximum period of the voyage or engagement, and the places or parts of the world, if any, to which the voyage or engagement is not to extend ; * It has, however, been decided that the non-execution of an agreement does not bar the seaman's right to claim wages for work actually done in contemplation of a voyage, which, in fact, never took place. (b) The number and description of the crew, specifying how many are engaged as sailors; (c)* The time at which each seaman is to be on board or to begin work; (d) The capacity in which each seaman is to serve; (e) The amount of wages which each seaman is to receive; (f) A scale of the provisions which are to be furnished to each seaman; (9) Any regulations as to conduct on board, and as to fines, short allowance of provisions, or other lawful punishment for misconduct, which have been approved by the Board of Trade as regulations proper to be adopted, and which the parties agree to adopt. Before any of the men sign the agreement it must be dated, and the signature of the master must be affixed to it. No stamp is needed. A copy of the agreement-complete save as to the signatures must be posted up in some part of the ship accessible to the crew, or the master becomes liable to a penalty. The delivering of a false agreement, or the altering of a genuine agreement, is a misdemeanor, and both those who are guilty of the actual alteration and those who are accessory to the act are punishable accordingly. Any alteration which has to be made must be made with the consent of all parties to the agreement, and a superintendent, justice of the peace, customs officer, or other public functionary at home, or a British consular officer abroad, must attest to such consent or the alteration is inoperative. For the purposes of this provision, two respectable British merchants may make the attestation in places abroad where there is no British consular officer. The agreement is legal evidence for the seaman in any proceeding, even though he may not produce the original or a copy, or have given notice to the other side to do so. The wording of the section of the Merchant Shipping Act upon which this right of the seaman rests is peculiar, and it is difficult to see how far it goes and what is its exact meaning. The intention is obvious and just. The seaman has no means of getting a proper copy of the agreement, except at some * Clause (c) does not prevent a seaman, who has done work before the time specified in the articles, being paid for such work on proper proof of his having done so. The words of this section (the 123rd) are: "In any legal, or other, proceeding a seaman may bring forward evidence to prove the contents of any agreement with the crew, or otherwise, to support his case, without producing, or giving notice to produce, the agreement or any copy thereof." This is practically a re-enactment of the 165th section of the Act of 1854. expense, and that only when he is suing in or near the port where it was executed. He has no copy of it delivered to him at the time of execution. So in the ordinary course of law he would be debarred from using it as evidence, unless he could make the other side produce it. This provision shifts the onus of production from him to his opponents. He can give verbal evidence of the contents of this written document, and his version of what it contains can only be upset by the production of the original, or a properly certified copy. As far as reference to the agreement with the crew in disputes between the master or owners goes, this provision is a very admirable one. But it would seem that the words of the section would give the sailor a right to rely on this provision in disputes with others who might be in no better position than he to get hold of documents, and that it might apply to other classes of writings besides those under our present contemplation. There are further special rules as to agreements for men to be employed in home-trade ships, in foreign-going ships, and for the employment of Lascars. Home-trade Agreements.-Agreements may be made in respect of service in more than one ship in the home trade, provided they are owned by the same owners, and that their names and the nature of the services to be performed are specified in the agreement. If home-trade engagements are not made before the superintendent, as those in the case of foreign-going ships must be, the master must, if practicable, before the ship puts to sea, and if not so practicable, as soon after she puts to sea as possible, read over the agreement or cause it to be read over and explained to each seaman, who must thereupon sign it. This signature must take place in the presence of a witness, and the witness must also sign his name in attestation of the signature. Where the agreement is made for service in two or more ships, the owner may make it in substitution of the master. Agreements for ships of more than eighty tons burden in the home trade do not extend beyond the next following thirtieth day of June, or thirty-first day of December, or the first arrival of the ship at her final port of destination in the United Kingdom after that date, or the discharge of cargo consequent on that arrival. But this enactment does not prohibit the owner or his agent for making time agreements with individual seamen to serve in one or more of his ships. Agreements of this latter kind must be made in the form sanctioned by the Board of Trade, and duplicates of them must be sent, within forty-eight hours of their execution, to the Registrar-General of Shipping. If these requirements are fulfilled, the agreement need not expire at the end of the half-year. The master, or owner of a home-trade ship of over eighty tons, must, within three weeks of the last day of the half-year, deliver or transmit to a superintendent in the United Kingdom every agreement with the crew made for the ship within the half-year just expired. Agreements with Crews of Foreign-going Ships.-These agreements-save in cases about to be mentioned-must be made in the presence of superintendents, and upon such an official rests the duty of satisfying himself, either by reading it over to the men, or otherwise, that the seaman understands its contents before he signs it. The master must obtain from the superintendent a certificate that the agreement has been properly executed, and this he must produce to the customs officer before the ship can be allowed to put to sea. So, too, when he arrives at his final port of destination in the United Kingdom at the end of the voyage, the master must, within forty-eight hours, deliver to the superintendent the ship's agreement, and obtain a certificate of such delivery from him. The non-delivery of the agreement subjects the master to a penalty, and without the certificate of such delivery the customs officer will not clear the ship inwards. When the crew is first engaged, the agreement is signed in duplicate and the superintendent retains one part. The master takes the other. The master's part has a special place or form for the descriptions and signatures of substitutes or persons engaged subsequently to the first departure of the ship. Where a substitute is engaged to take the place of a seaman who "signed on," and whose services are lost to the ship within twenty-four hours of her putting to sea, through some cause unforeseen (by the master at least), it is required that the engagement of the substitute shall, if practicable, be made before the superintendent. But if that be not practicable, the master must sign him on, if possible, before the ship puts to sea. Failing that, he must do so at the earliest possible time. And when he does so, he must take care to have the contents of the agreement made clear to the man, who thereupon must sign in the presence of a witness, who must attest the signature. Moreover, if any changes in, or additions to, his crew take place before his vessel finally leave the United Kingdom, notice and details of such matters must be sent to the superintendent before whom the crew were signed on," on a proper form approved for the purpose by the Board of Trade. 66 Running Agreements. Foreign-trade agreements are of two |