Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/370

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SEAMAN 314 SEA MOUSE weight of about 1,000 pounds. Color golden rufous, darker behind, limbs approaching black. It is destitute of fur, and its skin therefore is of little value, but the hide, fat, flesh, sinews, and intes- tines are all useful to the Aleutian island- ers. The hides yield excellent leather, oil vessels are made from the stomachs, the sinews are used for threads for binding skin canoes, and the flesh is considered a delicacy. Sea lions are found round Kamchatka and the Asiatic coast to the Kurile islands, and there is a colony of them at San Francisco protected by the National government. In heraldry, a monster consisting of the upper part of a lion combined with the tail of a fish. SEAMAN, LOUIS LIVINGSTON, an American surgeon, born at Newburgh, N. Y., in 1851. He graduated from Jef- ferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1876, and from the University Medical College, New York, in 1877. He engaged in hospital work in the latter city, and in 1886 made a tour around the world. He served as surgeon of the First Regiment of the United States Volunteer Engi- neers, in the Spanish-American War, and during the Russo-Japanese War, was with the Japanese Army in Manchuria. At the outbreak of the World War he served in the hospitals of the Belgian Army. He made a special study of the sanitary arrangement of armies, and was con- sidered an authority on that subject. He wrote "The Crucifixion of Belgium"; "Military Preparedness," and many ar- ticles on medical and military subjects. SEAMAN, SIR OWEN, an English writer and editor, born in 1861. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and at Cambridge University. After teaching for about 10 years, he began writing for "Punch" and other periodicals, in 1894. In 1897 he was called to the Inner Temple and in the same year he joined the edi- torial staff of "Punch," becoming assis- tant editor in 1902, and editor in 1906. In 1909 he was made honorary fellow of Clair College, Cambridge, and in 1914 he was knighted. He was especially well known for his poetical work in the field of parody. He published "(Edipus, the Wreck" (1888) ; "Horace at Cambridge" (1894); "Tillers of the Sand" (1895); "The Battle of the Bays" (1896); "In Cap and Bells" (1899); "Borrowed Plumes" (1902) ; "Harvest of Chaff" (1904) ; "Salvage" (1908) ; "War Time" (1915); "Made in England" (1916), etc. SEAMEN, LAWS RELATING TO. Because of their isolation from the juris- diction of regular courts for long periods and their absence in foreign countries in the regular course of their employment, it has been found necessary in all coun- tries to pass special legislation regulat- ing the relations of seamen and their em- ployers. England was the first to do this, in 1854, when its Merchant Shipping Act was passed. The provisions of this Act, several times revised, are under the jurisdiction of the British Board of Trade. Various laws for the regulation of the employment of merchant seamen have since been passed in this country, being under the jurisdiction of the Ad- miralty Court of the Federal Govern- ment. The most recent of these was that known as the La Follette Seamen's Act, passed in 1915, which compels every ship to carry a crew of which at least seventy- five per cent must be able to understand orders given in English. As a whole, however, laws for the protection of sea- men on American ships have been few in number, and those few have been almost entirely disregarded by shipowners. American ships have been so notorious for the ill treatment of their seamen that until very recently the majority of Amer- ican seamen have been found on British ships. The "bucko" mate and skipper is still a feature of the American sailing ship. In consequence of this state of af- fairs the crews of American ships have often been "shanghaied," being inexpe- rienced foreigners who have been ab- ducted by force, usually while under the influence of drugged liquors. The recent development of seamen's labor organiza- tions, rather than legislation, has been the element counteracting these condi- tions. Under existing laws, however, a seaman may not be discharged in a for- eign port without his own consent, unless he has signed a special contract to that effect. On the other hand, he may not leave his employment, unless specified in his contract, and if he does so may be arrested and imprisoned until the depart- ure of the ship, when he is brought for- cibly aboard. Flogging is forbidden, but physical violence is, nevertheless, a fre- quent form of punishment aboard Ameri- can ships. The laws relating to seamen, in foreign ports, are under the jurisdic- tion of the American consuls, who act as judges in cases brought before them by shipmasters. SEA MOUSE, Aphrodite, a genus of dorsi-branchiate Annelids or marine worms. The most notable feature in con- nection with the sea mouse consists in the beautiful iridescent hues exhibited by the hairs or bristles which fringe the sides of the body. The sea mouse inhab- its deep water, and may be obtained by dredging. The^ common species, A. acu~ leata of the British and French coasts, is