5. Forfeitures and Punishments.—
On the other hand, the seamen must perform their part of the contract. Refusal or neglect to work entails loss of wages, and wages are not due during a period of lawful imprisonment (Rev. St. § 4528). Desertion entails forfeiture of clothes left on board and wages earned; absence without leave, not amounting to desertion, forfeits two days' pay and expenses of a substitute; quitting the ship before she is in security means a forfeiture of not more than one month's pay; willful disobedience at sea will be punished by confinement in irons and further imprisonment on shore with loss of 4 days' pay. If continued, 12 days' pay is forfeited for each offense (Rev. St. § 4596); assaulting the master or mate and willfully damaging the ship or cargo are punishable criminally by imprisonment and forfeiture of wages.
Corporal punishment is no longer permitted; its infliction is a misdemeanor punishable by the courts, and it also renders the owner and master liable for damages. The master may, however, use a deadly weapon when necessary to suppress mutiny but only when mutiny exists or is threatened.
The laws of the United States on the subject of Merchant Seamen will be found in detail in Title LIII of the Revised Statutes and are collected with the modern amendments, including the La Follette Seamen's Act of March 4, 1915, and with full annotations in Volume 7 U. S. Compiled Statutes, 1916, pages 8772 to 8924. The Seaman's Act of March 4, 1915, is also found in 38 St. at L. 11-64.