Laws Relating to Seamen

Manning of British Ships.

The Merchant Shipping Act 1897 gave power to the Board of Trade to detain ships unsea worthy by reason of undermanning, but prescribed no rules for determining when a ship is to be deemed to be undermanned. Apart from that act the law does not interfere with the number of qualifications of the crew. Aliens serving on British ships may by a regulation of the home secretary (April 29, 1904) be natural ized without fee.

Certificates of competency as masters, mates and engineers are granted by the Board of Trade. Such certificates are for the fol lowing grades, viz., master or first mate, or second mate, or only mate of a foreign-going ship, master or mate of a home-trade passenger ship, first- or second-class engineer. By virtue of Or ders in Council under s. 102 of the act of 1894, certificates granted in many of the British colonies have the same force as if granted by the Board of Trade. The following are the re quirements of the act as to the officers to be carried by ships : Masters: A properly certificated master must be carried by every foreign-going ship and every home-trade passenger ship, what ever their tonnage. Mates: A mate, with the certificate of the grade of first or only mate, or master, must, in addition to the certificated master, be carried by every foreign-going ship of loo tons or upwards, unless more than one mate is carried, in which case the first and second mates must have valid certificates ap propriate to their several stations on such ship or of a higher grade; and a mate, with a certificate of the grade of first or only mate or master, must, in addition to the certificated master, be car ried by every home-trade passenger ship of loo tons or upwards. Engineers: Every foreign-going steamship of zoo nominal horse power or upwards must have two certificated engineers—the first possessing a first-class engineer's certificate, and the second pos sessing a second-class engineer's certificate, or a certificate of the higher grade. Every other foreign-going steamship, and every sea going home-trade passenger steamship, is required to carry as the first or only engineer an engineer having a second-class certificate, or a certificate of the higher grade. Vessels in the home trade (i.e., Great Britain and the continent of Europe between the Elbe and Brest) are not required to carry certificated masters or offi cers unless they are passenger ships of zoo tons or upwards; and vessels in the foreign trade of less than zoo tons are not required to carry any mate.

Provisions in regard to the apprenticing of boys to shipowners by parents or boards of guardians are contained in the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, ss. 105-109, and are substantially the same as

those which govern an apprenticeship for service on land. Where a ship is a British ship, but not registered in Great Britain, the provisions of Part II. apply as follows: The provisions relating to the shipping and discharge of sea men in Great Britain and to volunteering into the navy apply in every case. The provisions relating to lists of the crew and to the property of deceased seamen and apprentices apply where the crew are discharged or the final port of destination of the ship is in Great Britain. All the provisions apply where the ship is employed in trading or going between any port in Great Britain and any port not situate in the British possession or coun try in which the ship is registered. The provisions relating to the rights of seamen in respect of wages, to the shipping and discharge of seamen in ports abroad, to leaving seamen abroad, and the relief of seamen in distress in ports abroad, to the provisions, health, and accommodation of seamen, to the power of seamen to make complaints, to the protection of sea men from imposition, and to discipline, apply in every case ex cept where the ship is within the jurisdiction of the Government of the British possession in which the ship is registered.

Fishermen.

The regulations respecting fishermen, which were contained in several acts from 1868, are now to be found in the Merchant Shipping Act 1894, part iv. This provides, inter alio, that indentures of apprenticeship are to be in a certain form and entered into before a superintendent of a mercantile marine office, that no boy under 13 is to be employed in sea-fishery, that agreements with seamen on a fishing-boat are to contain the same particulars as those with merchant seamen, that running agree ments may be made in the case of short voyages, that reports of the names of the crew are to be sent to a superintendent of a mercantile marine office, and that accounts of wages and cer tificates of discharge are to be given to seamen. No fishing-boat is to go to sea without a duly certified skipper. Fishermen are exempt from Trinity House dues. The rights of British fishermen in foreign waters and foreign fishermen in British waters are in many cases regulated by treaty, generally confirmed in Great Brit ain by act of parliament. Special provisions as to fishermen in Scotland are contained in s. 389 of the Act of 1894 and in the Merchant Shipping (Scottish Fishing Boats) Act 192o.