The law, which is, as we have seen, so careful to protect him from possible oppression and to bring him home with his wages intact, will not allow him to sell or charge his wages, and any attempt to do so is invalid and of no effect. At the same time,

to ensure his doing his utmost for the benefit of his employer, he may not (though the master is exempt from this provision) insure his wages. He cannot make a speculative bargain that he shall lose his wages if the ship be lost, nor can he contract that he shall not have a share of any salvage to which he may become entitled. Nothing in the agreement can divest him of the right, if he be paid off in foreign money, to receive it at the rate current on the day of payment. The law, too, gives him special remedies in regard to the recovery of his wages, and no agreement can deprive him of them.

As to Payment.—A foreign-going ship in a home port must pay off her crew before a superintendent, and a home-trade ship may do so if the master or owners desire it. Before paying off any ship a statement and account of wages, in proper form as approved by the Board of Trade, must, twenty-four hours before payment or discharge, be given in to each man himself when the transaction does not take place before a superintendent; and when before a superintendent, either to the seaman when he leaves the vessel, or to the superintendent, not less than twentyfour hours before discharge or payment off. From the ordinary

rules which govern the case of foreign-going ships, vessels which pay their crews wholly by results are exempt.

As to other foreign-going ships, the master must, when the man properly leaves his vessel at the conclusion of his voyage, pay him one-fourth of the balance due to him, or two pounds, whichever is least. Then within two clear days the balance must be settled. Sundays and holidays do not count in the two days, and a reasonable dispute as to the amount is an excuse for non-settlement, as it is the act of the seaman. But if the delay be due to the default of the master or owner, the wages will run on till they are settled.

The paying off of a home-trade ship differs from that of a foreign-trade vessel in that there is no advance when the man leaves the ship. The whole payment is complete at one operation. Such payment must be made within two days of the discharge or of the termination of the agreement, whichever happens first. The man has a right to double pay for any days (up to a maximum of ten) during which payment may be delayed.

The circumstances of home and foreign-trading seamen are such as to make any comment on the reasons for these provisions

unnecessary. The seaman gives the master a release and the superintendent may, on request, also add his signature. Then the document is good as a voucher of payment for the master, whether against a further claim from the seaman or in his settlement of accounts with the shipowner. Superintendents have power to adjudicate upon matters in dispute as to wages up to £5 at the request of one of the parties interested, and up to any amount where both parties assent in writing to his undertaking the duty.

On discharge or payment of wages the master must give each seaman a certificate* of discharge in the form approved by the Board of Trade. Such certificate must specify the time and place of the man's discharge, and the period of his service. This must be signed by the master. In the case of certificated officers who have given in their certificates to him, he must return to them their certificates under a penalty, unless he has reasonable cause for failing to return them.

Seaman's Maritime Lien for Wages.-The seaman has a treble remedy in a suit for wages. He can proceed against the master, or against the ship and her freight, or against the owner personally. Like the master, the seaman has a maritime lien for his wages against the vessel and her outfit and her freight. His lien is a very prior claim upon the proceeds of the ship. A purchaser of the vessel for value takes her subject to any outstanding claims of this nature; so does a mortgagee, or the holder of a bottomry bond, and in a case where a ship was lost and the owner became bankrupt the seamen retained their prior claim against the proceeds of the ship, even when the owner's estate was administered in bankruptcy. The claim of the seaman being enforceable against the master as well as against the ship and the owner, it stands immediately prior to that of the shipmaster when enforced against the ship and her freight.

It is, however, postponed to that of the holder of a bottomry bond given on a voyage subsequent to that on which the wages in question were earned. For there is an old legal maxim that the law assists the diligent only. In a case, therefore, where the seaman neglects to enforce his security as soon as he might have done, he must necessarily give way to those whom he enables by his own dilatoriness to get before him. So, too, it is postponed to the claim of salvors; for their exertions saved the ship, which is the security out of which the men aim at getting their rights. If the salvage work had not been done they would have had nothing to go for.

* See note p. 13 ante, and Appendix XII.

The maritime lien on the freight enables the claimants under it to follow it even into the hands of one who takes it by an absolute assignment.

Against the cargo the seaman has no claim, save that his lien on the freight enables him to stop the cargo, where freight is unpaid, if he be enforcing his lien for wages out of freight. But as soon as the freight is paid the cargo must be released. The maritime lien is conferred upon every one on the ship's articles, even upon “idlers," down to the stewardesses. It also extends to the pilot, for he is engaged in the work of navigation. The seaman seems to be in a different position to the master in one respect here. The master can lose his lien by waiving it or by carelessness. The seaman does not. He does not even lose it by choosing to proceed personally against the owner in the first instance.

Where Suits for Wages may be Instituted.-Not only can suits for wages be tried by the Admiralty Court and by County Courts having Admiralty jurisdiction, but there is also a summary jurisdiction conferred upon stipendiary magistrates and justices in petty sessions to adjudicate upon such claims up to the amount of £50. But under this provision proceedings must be instituted within six months of the origin of the cause of complaint, unless the parties, or one of them, has been out of the United Kingdom or, in the case of complaints arising in British possessions, out of the jurisdiction of a Court capable of dealing with the matter. The six months does not run during such absence. Under ordinary circumstances a seaman has no right to take proceedings abroad for wages. He can do so, however, when he is discharged abroad or when he has been the subject of such "ill-usage on the part of the master as would warrant reasonable apprehension of danger to his life if he were to remain on board." In cases where, but for this provision, the conduct of the master would have justified him in suing for his wages before the termination of the agreement, the seaman may, on his return and proof of the facts, obtain compensation beyond the amount of the wages due, up to a limit of £20.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MASTER'S DUTY IN RESPECT OF THE PASSENGER.

66

CONTENTS.-General Observations-Baggage-Rights of Passengers-Definition of a "Passenger Ship"-Definition of a Passenger"-Statute Adult Steerage Passenger- Cabin Passenger - Space - MessingAmount of Fare-Form of Ticket-Upper Passenger Deck-Lower Passenger Deck-A Colonial Voyage-An Emigrant Ship-Surveys of Passenger Steamers-Keeping Order amongst Passengers-Surveys of Emigrant Ships-Equipments-Where Passengers may be carriedExercise Decks-Decks to be kept clear-Construction of Passenger Decks-The Berths-Privies-Hospitals-Light and Air-Provisions, Water and Medical Stores--Dangerous Goods and Cattle-General Strength of Crew-Steerage Steward-Steerage Cooks-Interpreters on Foreign Emigrant Ships-Medical Practitioners-Medical InspectionPassengers' Lists-Maintenance on Arrival—Wrongful Landing—Subsistence-Abstract of Act-The Master's Bond-Putting back with Damage-Duty of Masters putting back-Obligation to allow Inspec

tion.

We have seen in our remarks upon the subject of discipline that the passenger, by taking his passage with the master, puts himself under his authority and subjects himself to the necessary discipline of the ship. We have seen too that the master, by accepting the passage-money, undertakes to give the passenger something more than mere ship room. He must afford kind and reasonable treatment. In no relation in which the shipmaster finds himself are there more trying situations than in those between him and the passengers, and it is here that is made the greatest call upon him to keep his temper and to be full of tact and worldly wisdom-the classes of passengers are so varied, including as they do every one, from the highest to the lowest, from princesses of the blood down to criminals flying from justice. The weaknesses of mankind are generally accentuated under strange and unaccustomed conditions, and certain classes of passengers are most unreasonable. They do not realise in the least that in so confined a space as a ship every passenger cannot have a suite of apartments to himself, or that the “captain" is not responsible for the weather encountered at sea. But the more trying and unreasonable the passenger the greater the call for the diplomacy of the master. In passenger-ships of the

enormous size and great speed of to-day, the responsibilities are so heavy that they seem almost too great for one man, and there would appear to be an endeavour to divide them. On board the great liners belonging to British companies on the Atlantic, the commander is being taken more and more apart, confining himself to the bridge and navigation-deck, save when he makes his daily rounds, and joining little in the social life of the ship. The German development seems to be in another direction, for the last great vessels of an important German company carry a navigating officer, who may help to relieve the captain of his, so to speak, "out-of-door duties." How this arrangement will work in practice remains to be seen. I am glad, at all events, that it is the German and not a British line which has chosen this mode of relief, for the legal duties and responsibilities under this dual arrangement would be hard indeed to discuss. In the eye of the British law, the master alone is responsible for the navigation of the ship, and in case of collision in fog, the master haled before a Court of Inquiry for not reducing speed would not save his certificate from suspension by pleading that his navigating officer ought to have slowed the engines.

The master undertakes, in the absence of any special contract as regards the dietary scale, to give the passenger reasonable and sufficient food according to the class by which he travels, and to give him suitable accommodation.

Baggage. The passenger is allowed a certain quantity of baggage by the contract or, failing any express stipulation in the contract, is entitled to a reasonable amount. As innkeepers on land are protected by special statute against loss of valuables, where proper notices are posted and facilities for storing them are provided, so the steamship owner usually takes care to disclaim responsibility for valuables not given in charge of the purser. And recent cases have shown that such notices and stipulations, if properly brought home to the passenger and incorporated in his contract, will be a good answer to claims for loss.

As regards the baggage of the passenger, it is practically in the same position as its owner. The contract of carriage guarantees that the vessel shall be seaworthy and suitable for its purpose, which, of course, is to carry not only passengers but also the sort of goods which usually are included in personal luggage. But it may be submitted that if a packet of candles were enclosed in a trunk which was not specially marked with a warning, and if this were to be packed in a baggage-room near the boiler-room bulkhead, but not near enough to injure clothes or jewellery (which are the usual contents of trunks), there would be no right