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question does not exceed £5, but if the superintendent is of opinion that the question is one which ought to be decided by a court of law, he may refuse to decide it. Amounts exceeding £5 have to be submitted to a court of law to be decided by a magistrate competent to deal with it. This, however, is merely what happens if there is any dispute about it, and in these days of Seamen's Unions, pettifoggery and red-hot coddling, everything is promptly disputed on principle; and generally successfully too! . The following are the chief statutory provisions relating to
the discipline of the crew, and is the real code provided by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.
| Desertion and absence without leave. | "221. If a seaman lawfully engaged or an apprentice to the sea service commits any of the following offences he shall be liable to be punished summarily as follows:
"(a) If he deserts from his ship he shall be guilty of the offence of desertion and be liable to forfeit all or any part of the effects he leaves on board, and of the wages which he has earned, and also, if the desertion takes place abroad, of the wages he may earn in any other ship in which he may be employed until his next return to the United Kingdom, and to satisfy any excess of wages paid by master or owner of the ship to any substitute engaged in his place, at a higher rate of wages than the rate stipulated to be paid to him; and also, except in the United Kingdom, he shall be liable to imprisonment for any period not exceeding twelve weeks with or without hard labour; "(b) If he neglects or refuses without reasonable cause to join his ship, or to proceed to sea in his ship, or is absent without leave at any time within twenty-four hours of the ship's sailing from a port, either at the commencement or during the progress of a voyage, or is absent at any time without leave and without sufficient reason from his ship or from his duty, he shall, if the offence does not amount to desertion or is not treated as such by the master, be guilty of the offence of absence without leave, and be liable to forfeit out of his wages a sum not exceeding two days' pay, and in addition for every twenty-four hours of absence, either a sum not exceeding six days' pay or any expenses properly incurred in hiring a substitute; and also, except in the United Kingdom, he shall be liable to imprisonment for any period not exceeding ten weeks with or without hard labour. |
| Conveyance of deserter on board ship. | "222, (1) If in the United Kingdom a seaman or apprentice is guilty of the offence of desertion or of absence without leave, or otherwise absents himself from his ship without leave, the master, any mate, the owner, ship's husband, or consignee of the ship, may, with or without the assistance of the local police officers or constables, convey him on board his ship; and those |
