authorities of their respective stations, and from the information obtained from such authorities, or from other reliable sources where no regularly constituted health authorities exist, to prepare and transmit by the mails to the Department of State, for the information of the Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service, on forms prescribed by the Department, weekly reports of the appearance, progress, or termination of cholera, yellow fever, small-pox plague, or typhus occurring in their respective localities, and are further instructed to include in said reports information in relation to the prevalence of other preventable diseases, as diphtheria, enteric and scarlet fevers, &c., the prevailing disease or diseases in port, if any, and, when practicable, the annual death rate per one thousand of the population as shown by the official record of deaths for the week reported. Special interest should be taken in the healthfulness of vessels, reporting those arriving from or departing to the United States in a bad sanitary condition; also reporting the facts of any serious sickness or unhealthiness of seamen in port, or of crews arriving from or departing to the United States. Weekly reports of diseases. sent. 335. In the event of the outbreak of Asiatic cholera, yel-Telegrain to be low fever or Asiatic plague, or other contagious disease in epidemic form, the Department must immediately be advised by cable or telegraph of such outbreak using such abbreviation as the Department may from time to time di rect. The following cipher and abbreviations should be used: "Cholera"-meaning, cholera has appeared. "Yellow"-meaning, yellow fever has appeared. The name of a country, meaning that the disease has made its appearance at several places in the country named. The name of a vessel, meaning that the vessel named has departed from the place whence the dispatch is sent, bound for a port in the United States. "Poison," meaning that the vessel referred to, though leaving a then healthy port, has on board passengers or goods (baggage) coming from a district infected with cholera or yellow fever. Bill of health. When cholera or yellow fever has appeared at several places in a country, name the country only, after the word "cholera" or "yellow," as the case may be; if it has ap· peared at the place only from which the dispatch is sent, do not repeat the name of that place in the body of the dispatch, but if at any other particular place, name it. In a dispatch announcing the departure of a vessel to a port in the United States, the port of departure will be understood to be the place from which the dispatch is sent; hence the name of the port of departure need not be repeated. In the body of a dispatch the name of the vessel should be given first; second, the name of the country, when applicable; third, the day of departure, omitting the day of the month and of the year, as they will be understood without saying; third, the name of the port of destination. The importance of observing this order will appear obvious when it is understood that many vessels bear the names of ports in the United States; fourth, the name of the disease, "cholera" or "yellow," as the case may be, should be given, provided the Department has not been already advised of the outbreak of the disease. When advice has once been given of the appearance of cholera or yellow fever at a certain port, the name of the disease need not be repeated in dispatches announcing the subsequent departure of vessels from that port. When the name of a vessel is given without stating whether it is a steamer or sailing vessel, it will be understood to be a steamer; if the vessel is a sailing vessel, its proper designation should be prefixed. The sender of the dispatch should sign his last name only. 336. The Consul will give to every master of a vessel bound to a port in the United States, a bill of health, on the form prescribed by the Department, giving full information of the number of persons on board such vessel at the time of sailing and the sanitary condition of the vessel so far as known, and also the sanitary condition of the port of departure at the time. At such ports as may from time to time be designated by the Department, a physician will be employed or detailed to make the necessary inspection of the vessel, her passengers, crew, cargo, and ballast. In case the master of any vessel shall refuse to receive a bill of health, the fact shall be immediately reported to the Department by cable, if necessary. 337. When a vessel having received a bill of health, touches at any other port while en route to the United States, the Consul at such port shall visa the bill of health and note thereon such changes as may have taken place since its original issue. 338. Monthly reports of the bills of health issued must be made to the Department on the regular forms. PROTESTS. 339. Consular Officers have the right, in the ports or places to which they are appointed, to receive the protests or declarations which such captains, masters, crews, passengers, and merchants as are citizens of the United States may * respectively choose to make there; and also such as any foreigner may choose to make before them relative to the personal interest of any citizens of the United States; and copies of such acts, duly authenticated by the Consular Officer under his official seal, are to receive faith in law equally as their originals would in all courts of the United States. The nature of these instruments will depend in each case upon the particular facts to be protested against. (For general forms see Nos. 37, 38, and 39.) MUTINY AND INSUBORDINATION, AND THE TRANSPORTATION STATES. 340. If American scamen on board of a vessel of the United States either arrive at a port in a state of mutiny, or a mutiny occurs in port which cannot be quelled by the captain, and the captain cannot navigate his ship to the United States with the mutineers on board, the Consular Officer should, if the laws of the country permit, cause the mutineers to be confined and sent home for trial, unless, in his judgment, the ends of justice will be best subserved by discharging them, in view of unjustifiable cruelty of the captain, or other sufficient cause; and, in the latter case, he will be careful to report to the Department at length the reasons Visa of bill of Monthly reports. Protests. R. S., sec. 1707. Consuls' proceedings. Parsons on ship. ping and admiralty for his course. Mere insolent conduct towards the master, disobedience of orders, or violence committed on the person of the master, unaccompanied by other acts showing an intention to subvert his command as master, is not sufficient 1 Wheaton, 417. to constitute the offense of mutiny. And in a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States it was held that the offense consists in the crew of a vessel, or any one or more of them, endeavoring to overthrow the legitimate authority of the commander with the intent to remove him from his command. Infubor dination to be discouraged. 1884, sec. 6; 23 Stat., 55, 341. It is made the duty of Consular Officers to discountenance insubordination by every means in their power, and to invoke the assistance of the local authorities when it can be done. But care should be taken not to confound a casual disobedience of orders, or insubordination, not endangering the authority of the master, with the crime of mutiny. For these offenses the master has the power to inflict adequate punishment. If the vessel is bound to the United States, and if the master is obeyed by a sufficient number of the crew to insure the safe navigation of the vessel, he should Act of June 26, continue the voyage, if necessary confining the mutinous seamen on ship board. The Consular Officer should not discharge the seaman unless that course is clearly justified by the circumstances. If the mutiny is of so grave a character as to endanger the safety of the vessel and to call for the punishment of the offenders, he may take from the vessel so many of them, to be sent to the United States for trial, as will relieve the master from reasonable fear. This power should, however, not be exercised for insufficient cause, nor in any case in which the evidence is not likely to afford good ground for conviction. When the mutiny has been provoked by intolerable cruelty or other sufficient cause, the Consular Officer may dis charge such of the crew as he may deem necessary. In other cases, however, he should endeavor to so exercise the right to discharge as not to offer an inducement to fractious and in subordinate characters to incite disturbance or revolt for the purpose of obtaining a release from the ship. A form of certificate and of the Consul's decision in cases of insubordination is given in Forms Nos. 40 and 41. (See paragraph 290.) 342. If a mutiny or grave offense has been committed on an American vessel in a foreign port, or within the jurisdiction of the foreign state, and the circumstances are deemed to call for the punishment of the offenders, the latter should be delivered to the Consular Officer to be sent to the United States, unless, in the case of seamen, he shall decide to discharge them from the vessel. He should request the aid of the local authority, if necessary, and if he is authorized to do so by treaty or by the established usage of the place, Forms No. 31, 32, 40, and 41 may be used. It should be understood, however, that the Consular Officer is not authorized to exercise this jurisdiction, except under the provisions of treaty, or by usage, or through the coartesy of the authorities of the country who from motives of comity or reciprocity may be willing to deliver up the offenders. 343. In order to determine whether he shall detain or require detention, the Consul must inquire into, and in some sense judge and decide, the question of culpability. He must, of necessity, inquire in the usual way, that is, by hearing testimeny, not as a judicial officer, but as Consul. As to judgment, that is, deciding whether to detain or not to detain, he must have large discretion. He need not detain men upon such suspicion of guilt as would justify an examining magistrate in holding to bail within the United States. There is no judge at hand to supervise the propriety of such detention by writ of habeas corpus or to admit bail on motion. The Consul, in order to induce him to detain, may well require stronger probable cause of belief in guilt than an examining magistrate. He may do this in the interest of the party, and he may do it in the interest of the government, which must defray the expenses of the detention and custody of the party and of his conveyance to the United States. 344. When, however, mutiny or other grave offense against the laws of the United States shall have been committed on board an American vessel on the high seas, and without the jurisdiction of any state, it is the duty of the Consular Officer into whose district the vessel may come to take the depositions necessary to establish the facts in the fullest manner possible. If the circumstances demand that Mutiny in a for eign port. Consul to deter mine. 80p. Atty. Genl., 380. Mutiny on the high seas. |