ment Sir John Nicholl said, "Was she immediately, when winter began, to return in ballast and make no freight? That could not be the understanding of the contracting parties: it would have entirely defeated the whole object of the voyage. The master had a reasonable cause for waiting, and while so doing the frost set in. I have no hesitation in holding that the circumstances of the case bring it fairly within the true construction and meaning of the contract."

All masters and owners are prohibited from introducing into any agreement any clause, engagement, or stipulation whereby any seaman or other person shall or may incur any forfeiture or be exposed to loss in case he shall enter into Her Majesty's naval service; and if inserted, the clause, engagement, or stipulation is declared to be void, and the offender is made liable to a penalty of twenty pounds. (7 and 8 Vict. c. 112, s. 50.)

Section 5 enacts that no clause, contract, or engagement whereby any seaman shall consent or promise to forego or give up any right or claim to wages in the case of freight earned by a ship subsequently lost, or any right or claim to salvage or reward for salvage services, or such proportion of salvage or reward for salvage services as shall or may be due to him by decree or award, or otherwise, shall be valid or binding on such seaman.

The statute does not render a verbal agreement for wages absolutely void, but imposes a penalty on the master who shall neglect to make an agreement in

* Hoghton, Brady, 3 Hagg. A. R. 100.

writing.* The rule of law that when a written agreement is made it becomes the only evidence of the contract between the parties has been enlarged by sections 5 and 25, which provide that every copy of a document and endorsement thereon, which may be delivered by any owner or master under the provisions of the act, may be admitted in evidence against such owner and master as fully as the original document, and that in case the agreement shall not be produced and proved, the seaman shall be at liberty to prove the contents or purport thereof, or to establish his claim by other evidence, according to the nature of the case.

The Court of Admiralty has sustained suits for seamen's wages in cases where no rate of wages was affixed to the seamen's names in the agreements.t

But a seaman cannot recover any sum beyond the stipulated wages, as an additional reward for his services. Even a promise made by the master when a ship was in distress, to pay an extra sum to a mariner, as an inducement to extraordinary exertion on his part, was, at a trial before Lord Kenyon, esteemed to be wholly void. So where two of the crew deserted in the course of a voyage, and the master having in vain attempted to supply their places at Cronstadt, entered into an agreement with the crew at that place to divide among them the wages of the deserters, Lord Ellenborough decided that the engagement was wholly

Abbott on Shipping (Shee's ed.) 550.

+ Harvey, Peach, 2 Hagg. A. R. 79. Prince George, Shaw, S Hagg. A. R. 376.

Harris v. Watson, Peake's N. P. cases,

72.

void.

66

His lordship said, there was no consideration for the ulterior pay promised to the mariners who remained with the ship. Before they sailed from London, they had undertaken to do all they could under the emergencies of the voyage; they had sold all their services till the voyage should be completed. The desertion of a part of the crew is to be considered an emergency of the voyage, as much as their death, and those who remain are bound by the terms of their original contract to exert themselves to the utmost to bring the ship in safety to her destined port."

So in a case where the Plaintiff signed articles as an able seaman at 35s. a month, but acted as cuddy servant, and claimed additional wages for his service in that capacity, Abbott, C. J., said. "The ship's articles are conclusive, if a man signs the articles as a seaman, he can recover no more wages than are there agreed for, however he may be employed on board the ship.t

A second mate succeeding a chief mate in the course of a voyage, is entitled to a similar rate of wages as his predecessor, although there was no fresh contract nor alteration of his rate of pay in the agreement.‡

"If after the hiring of seamen the owners of a ship do not think proper to send the vessel on the intended voyage, the seamen are to be paid for the time during which they may have been employed on board the ship. And if they sustain any special damage by *Stilk v. Myrick, 2 Camp. 317.

Dafter v. Creswell, 2 C. & P. 161.

Providence, Herd, 1 Hagg. A. R.391. Gondolier, Rhodes,

3 Hagg. A. R. 190.

breaking off the contract, it seems reasonable also that they should recover such damage by action upon the agreement."* But if the ship shall have prosecuted her voyage, a seaman unduly discharged before its commencement may sue for his wages in the Court of Admiralty, where it seems he may recover the amount of such wages for the whole voyage, subject to a deduction of the sum earned by him in the mean time. If the seamen do not sign the agreement when they join the ship, they cannot be compelled to remain. They are at liberty to leave at any time before signing it; and if they leave, the master will be liable to a claim for wages while they work on board, because he treats them as labourers rather than seamen, and leaves them an option to quit.

The Log-book is the next point to which the master's attention is to be directed. That should be commenced with the hiring of the seamen, because the section which imposes forfeitures upon seamen for neglect of duty and absence without leave, provides, that no such forfeiture shall be incurred unless the fact of the seaman's absence, neglect, or refusal to perform his duty shall be duly entered in the ship's log-book, the truth of which entry it is incumbent on the owner or master in all cases of dispute to substantiate by the evidence of the mate, or some other credible witness. (s. 7.)

It is recommended that the strictest attention be paid to the entries of such matters in the log-book.

Abbott on Shipping, (Shee's ed.) 563.

† City of London, Reynolds, W. Rob. A. R. 1. 88.

A judicious use of such entries during the voyage will sometimes be found beneficial; for if an obstinate or disorderly seaman be reminded of such entries, and told that for every day's neglect of duty recorded in the log-book, he will incur a forfeiture of six days' pay, he may be occasionally taught the wholesome lesson of obedience through motives of self-interest.

Every ship navigating between the United Kingdom and any place out of the same,* shall have and keep constantly on board a sufficient supply of medicines and medicaments, suitable to accidents and diseases arising on sea voyages, in accordance with the scale which shall from time to time be issued by the Lord High Admiral, or by the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral, and published in the London Gazette; and every ship (except those bound to European ports, or to ports in the Mediterranean Sea) shall also have on board a sufcient quantity of lime or lemon-juice, sugar and vinegar, the lime or lemon-juice, sugar and vinegar to be served out to the crew whenever they shall have been consuming salt provisions for ten days; the lime or lemon-juice and sugar daily after the rate of half an ounce each per day, and the vinegar weekly at the rate of half a pint per week, to each person, so long as the consumption of salt provisions be continued; and in case any default shall be made in providing and

*This applies to ships sailing to the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, which are out of the United Kingdom, and also to steam and other vessels "making regular voyages to any Port on the Continent of Europe, between the river Elbe inclusive and Brest."