Discipline. Protectire Lena.—We have already seen the authorit which is reposed by the law in the master for the maintenance discipline on board. Ilis power necessarily enables him to inn punrshment for smaller offences upon the instant. In case of th greater offence' his power goes no further than to put the seaman, need be, in confinement, in order to deliver him up on reaching land t the proper authorities, for investigation of the charges made, again him, and the consequences which ought to follow thereon. The status has ascertained the amount of punishment to be inflicted In certai particular cares by the magistrate. The Board of Trade, in certai lesser offences, enables the owners and seamen to agree upon th penalties which tho Board have recommended as reasonable and prop( to be adopted, and have set out in a schedule published by them i pursuance with their authority under the Act. But no convictio under the Merchant Shipping Act may be made in any summary psi ceesling, unless such proceeding is commenced within six months aft( the offence was committed, or within two months after both partir arrive or at one time within the United Kingdom, er within ti jurisdiction of any court capable of dealing with the case in a Britis possession. Nor can any order for the payment of money be made I a summary proceeding, unless such proceeding is within six montl after the cause of complaint arose, or after both parties arrive or as within the United Kingdom, or within the jurisdiction of any court a British possession capable of dealing with the case. Any foe jurisdiction situate on the coast of any sea, or abutting on or projectir into any bay, channel, lake, river, or other navigable water, is extends by the Merchant Shipping Act to any ship or boat being in or lying ( passing off such coast, or being in or near such bay, channel, lake, rive or navigable water, and to all persons on board or for the time beir belonging thereto, as if such ship, boat, or persons were within tl limits of tho original jurisdiction. And every offence is to be deem( to have been committed, and every cause of complaint to have arise either in the place it was committed or arose, or where the offender person complained against may be.
The ships stores, the water on and the medicine chest, a ubject to inspection by certain public officers. The seaman may com dain of the stores and have them inspected, at the peril however of icing mulcted in one week's wages in case his complaint be frivolous.
n case he is kept on short allowance, not in the way of punishment tor through any fault of the master, but solely from those accidents of the sea that may delay the best provisioned ship that sails, he is ;ntitled to a certain compensation per day while the deficiency lasts. Phis is rather in the way of wages to him. If he were to be injured, iowever, by deficiency or badness, either of the stores or medicines, vhere there is negligence in the master, his right of action for damages s clear. A seaman is not entitled to bring an action because the vessel vas unseaworthy and he suffered by it ; yet, as the statute provides for iris being well and comfortably accommodated, any defect of the ship hat should form an encroachment upon such statutory right would be good ground of action to any seaman suffering injury thereby.
Medicines and medical assistance on board are supplied to the seamen at the owner's expense; and so must they be, also, together with subsistence, if the patient is removed from on board to prevent nfection, or otherwise for the ship's in case he sub sequently return to duty on board. If the sickness be the result of injury received in the service of the ship he must be supplied by the iwner with medical advice and medicines, subsistence and attendance, until he is cured, or dies, or is brought back to,some port in the United Kingdom, or in any British possession, according as he shipped from one country or the other ; and his conveyance thereto, or burial, must also be at the owner's expense. It is only when he is absent, however, from the United Kingdom, or the British possession from which he shipped, that the seaman in case of injury suffered in the ship's service is entitled to such assistance; for upon well-known general principles, every servant is presumed to make his contract with a full knowledge of all the risks of the service upon which he is entering.
A most praiseworthy effort has been made to bring the British Beaman in every quarter of the globe completely within the protection of the British laws. There is a system of lists of crews for foreign going ships upon every voyage, and for home-trade ships once every six mouths, by which a complete register of British seamen is produced, and a somewhat minute knowledge of each individual and his where abouts is attained. On every sea where her majesty's flag floats over a vessel of war, on every coast where a British magistrate resides, or a British consular officer officiates, there is opportunity for the Injured seaman to complaiu and obtain justice ; and any attempt of the master or other officer of his own ship to interfere with or prevent him com plaining Is an offence punishable with fine and imprisonment.
It is a misdemeanor for a master to force on shore or *lifting leave behind any seaman or apprentice in or out of her majesty's dominions. It Is a misdemeanor to discharge any seaman or apprentice at any place out of her majesty's dominions, br hi any British possession, except that from which he may have originally shipped, without the sanction in writing of the shipping master, chief officer of customs, British consular officer, or of two respectable merchants resident at or near the place. It is a misdemeanor to leave behind a seaman or apprentice without at the same time obtaining'a certificate from such officer or merchants, stating the fact and the cause Indorsed on the ship's articles, unless that was impracticable, and the proof of that lies on the master. In case such discharge however be sanctioned, the wages of the seaman are to be paid on the spot by bill or money. And wherever such discharge is rendered necessary by the transfer of the ship at a place out of her majesty's dominions, unless the crew consent to continue with the vessel, it is obligatory on the master to procure a passage homeward for the seaman, or provide hint with employment in some other British ship bound for the shipping port in this country, besides paying their wages, and giving them each a certificate of discharge.