"Sec. 3b. That in the event of failure of the owner of any vessel to effect insurance of the master, officers, and crew of such vessel prior to sailing, in accordance with section three a of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to effect such insurance with the Bureau of War Risk Insurance at the expense of the owner of such vessel, and the latter shall be liable for such expense, and, in addition, to a penalty of not exceeding $1000. The amount of such premium, with interest and of the penalty and of all costs, shall be a lien on the vessel." (June 12, 1917.)
CHAPTER XXV
DISCIPLINE AT SEA
Authority, to some minds, means oppression and injustice; people so constituted should stay ashore; a ship has no use for them—they simply cannot get along.
The orderly man lives his life aboard ship with the greatest freedom.
Discipline at sea is largely a matter of common sense. Officers who know their business have very little trouble in achieving perfect discipline. The laws governing lack of ability bear hard on the man who has shipped to do work he is not qualified for. The disturber has a hard time when handled by a Master who knows the law and his authority.
The laws relating to offenses on board ship are appended, not as guide to crime, but to inform the seaman of the fact that the flag and the laws of the land follow the ship out beyond the three-mile limit.
Some officers have a way with them that carries along the work of the vessel without friction and with the utmost amount of dispatch. These officers know their business thoroughly. They are absolutely just, which means that the slacker and malingerer are given the full brunt of disapproval. The "coming down" on a loafer, good and hard, helps more to bring forth respect for an officer than anything else. When this is coupled by even-handed justice, and a human way of doing things, such as looking out for the comfort of their men, a happy vessel is bound to be the result.
Seamen like nothing better than to know that they are under officers who will run things on the level. It is like being under a decent government that helps the weak and curbs the strong—there is a fascination to running things right that merchant officers should cultivate.
Below are the punishments meted out to those that believe in individual license, and who think that the individual can do as he pleases without consulting the rest of us. They are wrong, of course, but most of all, they are most often, simply ignorant.