Agreement to ship in foreign trade.
The master of every vessel bound from a port in the United States to any foreign port other than vessels engaged in trade between the United States and the British North American possessions, or the West India Islands, or the republic of Mexico, or of any vessel of the burden of seventy-five tons or upward, bound from a port on the Atlantic to a port on the Pacific, or vice versa, shall, before he proceeds oh such voyage, make an agreement, in writing or in print, with every seaman whom he carries to sea as one of the crew, in the manner hereinafter mentioned; and every such agreement shall be, as near as may be, in the form given in the table Marked A, in the schedule annexed to this Title [R. S., 4501-4613], and shall be dated at the time of the first signature thereof, and shall be signed by the master before any seaman signs the same, and shall contain the following particulars:
First. The nature and, as far as practicable, the duration of the intended voyage or engagement, and the port or country at which the voyage is to terminate.
Second. The number and description of the crew, specifying their respective employments.
Third. The time at which each seaman is to be on board, to begin work.
Fourth. The capacity in which each seaman is to serve.
Fifth. The amount of wages which each seaman is to receive.
Sixth. A scale of the provisions which are to be furnished to each seaman.
Seventh. Any regulations as to conduct on board and as to fines, short allowances of provisions, or other lawful punishments for misconduct, which may be sanctioned by Congress or authorized by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor not contrary to or not otherwise provided for by law, which the parties agree to adopt.
Eighth. Any stipulations in reference to allotment of wages, or other matters not contrary to law. [Repealed so far as relates to allotments in trade between the United States, Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the West Indies and Mexico, and coasting trade of the United States, except between Atlantic and Pacific ports, by sec. 25 of Act of December 21, 1898.] (R. S., 4511; Mar. 3, 1897; sec. 19; Feb. 14, 1903; sec. 10; June 26, 1884; sec. 10; Dec. 21, 1898; sec. 25.)
The following rules shall be observed with respect to agreements:
First. Every agreement except such as are otherwise specially provided for, shall be signed by each seaman in the presence of a shipping-commissioner.
Second. When the crew is first engaged the agreement shall be signed in duplicate, and one part shall be retained by the shipping-commissioner, and the other part shall contain a special place or form for the description and signatures of persons engaged subsequently to the first departure of the ship, and shall be delivered to the master.
Third. Every agreement entered into before a shipping-commissioner shall be acknowledged and certified under the hand and official seal of such commissioner. The certificate of acknowledgment shall be indorsed on or annexed to the agreement; and shall be in the following form:
"State of ———— , County of ———— :
"On this ———— day of ———— , personally appeared before me, a shipping-commissioner in and for the said county, A. B., C. D., and E. F., severally known to me to be the same persons who executed the foregoing instrument, who each for himself acknowledged to me that he had read or had heard read the same; that he was by me made acquainted with the conditions thereof, and understood the same; and that, while sober and not in a state of intoxication, he signed it freely and voluntarily, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned." (R. S., 4512.)
Section 4511 shall not apply to masters of vessels where the seamen are by custom or agreement entitled to participate in the profits or result of a cruise or voyage, nor to masters of coastwise nor to masters of lake-going vessels that touch at foreign ports; but seamen may, by agreement, serve on board such vessels a definite time, or, on the return of any vessel to a port in the United States, may reship and sail in the same vessel on another voyage, without the payment of additional fees to the shipping-commissioner.
[Note.—Sec. 4511, however, does apply in part to masters of coastwise vessels whose crews are shipped under provisions of the act of Feb. 18, 1895.] (R. S., 4513; Feb. 18, 1895; June 19, 1886.)
The master shall, at the commencement of every voyage or engagement, cause a legible copy of the agreement, omitting signatures, to be placed or posted up in such part of the vessel as to be accessible to the crew; and on default shall be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars. (R. S., 4519.)