History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 3 (of 4)

by W. S. Lindsay

4th. The Foreign Deserter’s Act.

5th. The punishment of offences committed on the high seas.

6th. The settlement of disputes between the masters of ships and their crews in foreign ports; and the extension of the use of our shipping offices to the vessels of the United States.

There are, besides these questions, others of a much more difficult and delicate character, such as belligerent rights of sea, the coasting trade of the United States, and the registration in America of British-built ships, all of great political as well as commercial importance, and therefore I fear my services in their solution can be of little value. It is, however, my intention to enter into conversation bearing upon all these questions with the leading merchants and Shipowners to whom I am known; and with the Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce of this and other places, including New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Portland, and various seaports in the New England States to whom I have letters of introduction. I shall at least ascertain their views, and may thus be enabled to pave the way to the settlement of some of those questions. And if I find that their views can be brought into harmony with those entertained by our own Government, I shall endeavour to prevail upon the different bodies to memorialise their Government on the subject.

My first, and I fear imperfect, impressions in regard to the questions I have named may be briefly stated as follows:—

1st. The rules of the road at sea.—I think these rules should be the same for the vessels of all nations. Different opinions prevail in regard to our own rules; but, though they differ from the old maritime law (acted upon by almost every other nation and at times by ourselves), and are an improvement upon it, the decisions in our Admiralty Courts are too often conflicting. Our rules, as a whole, are perhaps, however, more satisfactory than those of any other. But be that as it may, it would be most desirable if all nations would agree to adopt one and the same rule of road at sea, and would tend greatly to the safety of life and property.

2nd. Signal lights.—Our recent regulations in regard to lights have answered very well, and have been adopted by the owners of steam-vessels belonging to the United States. The application of these rules to sailing vessels is all that is now necessary, and is very desirable.

3rd. The limitation of shipowners’ liability.—This is a question of great importance, and the laws in regard to it are in an unsatisfactory state. May I refer your Lordship to the evidence taken last session before the select committee on merchant shipping on this subject, and to their report? From the correspondence I have read I think the Government of the United States might be induced to adopt the principles laid down in that report. If so, it might then (as the laws of each country are similar) be mutually arranged by a convention, or otherwise, to place our ships and those of the United States respectively, on an equal footing with regard to claims raised in the courts of either country in respect of any loss of life or personal injury arising from collisions at sea, so as to limit such claims to the same extent in each case, and also that the mode of procedure shall be as provided by the laws of the country where the claim is made.

4th. The application of our Foreign Deserter’s Act to the ships of the United States.—As your Lordship is aware, the United States Government has positively declined to become a party to this Act, because it contains the words “not being slaves,” which were inserted, I believe, after the Bill was introduced. Now it appears to me that there is no necessity for these words. The Act is meant to deal solely with voluntary agents, who, having of their own free will entered into an agreement, break it at foreign ports. I think the case would be met if instead of the words “not being slaves” there were substituted the following words—“seamen who have voluntarily engaged themselves in, or apprentices duly indentured to, the sea service.” I question if there are any cases on record where slaves have been shipped as seamen to English ports.

5th. Offences committed on the high seas.—Your Lordship cannot fail to be aware of the unsatisfactory state of the law in regard to these offences. Why, on the representation of the ministers or consuls, should the courts of England and of the United States not have jurisdiction over offences committed on board of vessels of the respective countries? I ask this question because I can at present see no objection to the principle I have ventured to lay down, though the mode of putting it into practice would require some consideration, and could best be dealt with by the legal authorities of the two countries. The same may be said with regard to the settlement of disputes between masters and crews in the ports of either country.