Section 224 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, contains the following provisions, viz:- The following rules shall be observed with respect to medicines, medical stores, and anti-scorbutics, that is to say: (1) The Board of Trade shall from time to time issue and cause to be published a scale of medicines and medical stores, suitable to accidents and diseases arising on sea voyages. (2) The owner of every ship navigating between the United Kingdom and any place out of the same shall provide, and cause to be constantly kept on board such ship, a supply of such medicines and medical stores in accordance with the said scale. And if, in any such ship as aforesaid, such medicines, medical stores, lime or lemon juice, or other articles, sugar and vinegar, as are herein-before required, are not provided and kept on board, as hereinbefore required, the master or owner shall incur a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds; and if the master of any such ship, as aforesaid, neglects to serve out the lime or lemon juice, or other articles, sugar or vinegar, in the case and manner herein-before directed, he shall for each such offence incur a penalty not exceeding five pounds; and if any master is convicted in either of the last mentioned penalties, and it appears that the offence is owing to the act or default of the owner, such master may recover the amount of such penalty, and the costs incurred by him, from the owner.' In ships employed trading solely between places in Europe, or between places on the shores of the North Atlantic, or Mediterranean, and in ships employed in the Greenland or Baffin's Bay trade, or in any of the northern fisheries, the proportion of the various articles above mentioned need not exceed the proportions mentioned in the second of the above columns, notwithstanding that the number of men and boys may exceed twenty.' Passenger-ships, which are certified under the 44th section of the Passengers Act, 1855, to be duly supplied with medicines, need not be also provided with medicines or other articles according to the above scale. Any person who sells or supplies any medicines, medical stores, lime or lemon juice, of bad quality, for the use of any ship, for each offence incurs a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds. * * Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, Section 227. F The expense of all medicines, and surgical or medical advice and attendance given to any master, seaman, or apprentice, whilst on board his ship, must be defrayed by the owner of the ship without any deduction on that account from any wages. * A sailor who suffers from the want of a proper supply of medicines on board the ship, can bring an action against his owner for damages; but, in order to allow him to succeed, he must prove, 1st, that the medicines required by the Board of Trade were not supplied; and, 2nd, that thereby his health suffered.† 14. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES ON BOARD, AND APPLIANCES FOR DISCHARGING CARGO. The master must not forget to keep on board proper weights and measures for the purpose of determining the quantities of the several provisions and articles served out; and he is to allow the same to be used at the time of serving out the same, in the presence of a witness, whenever any dispute arises about quantities. In every default of this, the master would make himself liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.‡ And it is his duty to provide all the usual ropes and rigging fit for the landing of the cargo. If by any defect in the usual equipment of ships for this purpose, any damage happens to the goods, the master, as well as the owner, would be liable.§ He will of course have furnished himself with cash or letters of credit, or so placed the expected receipt of freight, as to be able in the future to meet all charges in foreign ports. Merchant Shipping Act, 1854 Section 228. Couch v. Steel, 3 Ellis and Blackburn's Reports, 402. § Wilson v. The Belvidere, 1 Wilson's Reports, 282. 15. REFUSE TO RECEIVE GOODS TILL FREIGHT PAID. A master may refuse to receive goods until payment of his freight is made. If merchandise is put on board without his knowledge, he may put it ashore. But if it is not discovered until he has sailed, the better opinion is, that, if the vessel is not overloaded, the master is not to leave it at an intermediate port without necessity, but to carry the same to the port of destination.* Where goods are put on board clandestinely, the owner of the ship is not responsible for any loss or injury to them.† 16. CARRYING LETTERS. Masters of British vessels bound to a port of the United States had better not carry loose or indiscriminate letters. They are, by United States law, prohibited from receiving or delivering letters, except unsealed ones concerning the business of the vessel, directed to the consignee or owner, under a penalty of five hundred dollars. And where he may feel justified in carrying a letter-bag, the master must deposit all his letters at the post-office, except such as are directed to the owner or consignee of the vessel, before entering his cargo; and should he break bulk before depositing his letters, he will be subject to forfeit one hundred dollars for each offence.§ * 3 Kent's Commentaries, 206, Note 6, 5th edition. + Abbott on Shipping, 339, Note, 8th edition. Act of Congress, June 29, 1848. Act of Congress, March 3, 1826, Section 17. 17. SAILING UNDER CONVOY IN TIME OF WAR. Should wars or rumours of them be such as to have caused a warranty or undertaking to be inserted in any insurance of the vessel that she will not sail out of port without convoy, the ship must not depart without it. And the master, either before or at the time of sailing, will have to take sailing orders or directions as to keeping with the convoy, obeying signals and the like, from the commander of the convoy, except, perhaps, where he is unavoidably prevented, without any fault on his part, from receiving such orders, in which case he must take the earliest opportunity of obtaining them. If the vessel cannot sail fast enough to keep with the convoy, or is parted by a storm or other inevitable accident, it is not a breach of the warranty. The meaning of convoy is, a naval force under the command of a person appointed by the Government of the country to which the vessel insured belongs. 18. UNITED STATES PORTS OF ENTRY AND DEPARTURE. A British shipmaster must understand that it is not every large bay, harbour, or river of the United States, that he can make a port of entry and discharge. Congress has fixed upon the ports in which foreign vessels may and may not enter and unload. The following are the only ports at which British and other foreign ships may enter and unload. If they arrive elsewhere than from the Cape of Good Hope or from any place beyond the same:— State of Connecticut-Middletown, New Haven, New London. State of Delaware-Wilmington. State of Florida-Key West, Pensacola. * Abbott on Shipping, 354, 8th edition. |