respect to such wages, notwithstanding the offense in respect of which such question arises, though hereby made punishable by imprisonment as well as forfeiture, has not been made the subject of any criminal proceeding.

Whenever in any proceeding relating to seamen's wages R. S., 4605. it is shown that any seaman or apprentice has, in the course of the voyage, been convicted of any offense by any competent tribunal, and rightfully punished therefor, by imprisonment or otherwise, the court hearing the case may direct a part of the wages due to such seaman not exceeding fifteen dollars, to be applied in reimbursing any costs properly incurred by the master in procuring such conviction and punishment.

93. Vessels exempt from libel for wages.

No canal-boat, without masts or steam power, which is R. S., 4251. required to be registered, licensed, or enrolled and licensed, shall be subject to be libeled in any of the United States courts for the wages of any person who may be employed on board thereof, or in navigating the same. 94. Advances and allotments of wages.

(a) It shall be, and is hereby, made unlawful in any case to pay any seaman wages in advance of the time when he has actually earned the same, or to pay such advance wages to any other person. Any person paying such advance wages shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not less than four times the amount of the wages so advanced, and may also be imprisoned for a period not exceeding six months, at the discretion of the court. The payment of such advance wages shall in no case, excepting as herein provided, absolve the vessel or the master or owner thereof from full payment of wages after the same shall have been actually earned, and shall be no defense to a libel, suit, or action for the recovery of such wages. If any person shall demand or receive, either directly or indirectly, from any seaman or other person seeking employment as seaman, or from any person on his behalf, any remuneration whatever for providing him with employment, he shall for every such offense be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be imprisoned not more than six months or fined not more than five hundred dollars.

(b) It shall be lawful for any seaman to stipulate in his shipping agreement for an allotment of any portion of the wages which he may earn to his grand parents, parents, wife, sister, or children. But no allotment whatever shall be allowed in the trade between the ports of the United States (except as provided in subdivision c of this section) or in trade between ports of the United States and the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the West Indies and Mexico.

(c) It shall be lawful for any seaman engaged in a vessel bound from a port on the Atlantic to a port on the

Dec. 21, 1898.

Sec. 24.

Apr. 26, 1904. June 28, 1906.

Sec. 4.

Pacific or vice versa, or in a vessel engaged in foreign trade, except trade between the United States and the Dominion of Canada or Newfoundland or the West Indies or the Republic of Mexico, to stipulate in his shipping agreement for an allotment of an amount, to be fixed by regulation of the Commissioner of Navigation, with Feb. 14, 1903. the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, not exceeding one month's wages, to an original creditor in liquidation of any just debt for board or clothing which he may have contracted prior to engagement.

Sec. 10.

Feb. 14, 1903.
Sec. 10.

R. S., 4536.

(d) No allotment note shall be valid unless signed by and approved by the shipping commissioner. It shall be the duty of said commissioner to examine such allotments and the parties to them and enforce compliance with the law. All stipulations for the allotment of any part of the wages of a seaman during his absence which are made at the commencement of the voyage shall be inserted in the agreement, and shall state the amounts and times of the payments to be made and the persons to whom the payments are to be made.

(e) No allotment except as provided for in this section shall be lawful. Any person who shall falsely claim to be such relation as above described of a seaman under this section or shall make a false statement of the nature or amount of any debt claimed to be due from any seaman under this section shall for every such offense be punishable by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months, at the discretion of the court.

(f) This section shall apply as well to foreign vessels as to vessels of the United States; and any master, owner, consignee, or agent of any foreign vessel who has violated its provisions shall be liable to the same penalty that the master, owner, or agent of a vessel of the United States would be for a similar violation: Provided, That treaties in force between the United States and foreign nations do not conflict.

(g) Under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor the Commissioner of Navigation shall make regulations to carry out this section. [This section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts-Dec. 21, 1898, sec. 26-but this section shall apply to all vessels engaged in the taking of oysters-June 28, 1906, sec. 4.] 95. Wages and clothing exempt from attachment.

No wages due or accruing to any seaman or apprentice shall be subject to attachment or arrestment from any court; and every payment of wages to a seaman or apprentice shall be valid in law, notwithstanding any previous sale or assignment of wages, or of any attachment, incumbrance, or arrestment thereon; and no assignment or sale of wages, or of salvage, made prior to the accruing thereof, shall bind the party making the same, except such

advance securities as are authorized by this Title [R. S., 4501-4613].

Feb. 18, 1895.

The clothing of any seaman shall be exempt from attachment, and any person who shall detain such cloth- Apr. 11, 1904. ing when demanded by the owner shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be imprisoned not more than six months or fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both.

No sum exceeding one dollar shall be recoverable from R. S., 4537. any seaman, by any one person, for any debt contracted during the time such seaman shall actually belong to any vessel, until the voyage for which such seaman engaged shall be ended.

96. Desertion of seamen abroad.

June 26, 1884.
Sec. 6.

Dec. 21, 1898.

Sec. 21.

It shall be the duty of all consular officers to reclaim R. S., 4600. deserters, discountenance insubordination by every means in their power, and, where the local authorities can be usefully employed for that purpose, to lend their aid and use their exertions to that end in the most effectual manner. In all cases where seamen or officers are accused the consular officer shall inquire into the facts and proceed as provided in section forty-five hundred and eighty-three of the Revised Statutes; and the officer discharging such seamen shall enter upon the crew list and shipping articles and official log the cause of discharge and the particulars in which the cruel or unusual treatment consisted, and subscribe his name thereto officially. He shall read the entry made in the official log to the master, and his reply thereto, if any, shall likewise be entered and subscribed in the same manner.

97. Desertion of foreign seamen in the United States.

On application of a consul or vice-consul of any foreign R. S., 5280. government having a treaty with the United States stipulating for the restoration of seamen deserting, made in writing, stating that the person therein named has deserted from a vessel of any such government, while in any port of the United States, and on proof by the exhibition of the register of the vessel, ship's roll, or other official document, that the person named belonged, at the time of desertion, to the crew of such vessel, it shall be the duty of any court, judge, commissioner of any circuit court, justice, or other magistrate, having competent power, to issue warrants to cause such person to be arrested for examination. If, on examination, the facts stated are found to be true, the person arrested not being a citizen of the United States, shall be delivered up to the consul or vice-consul, to be sent back to the dominions of any such government, or, on the request and at the expense of the consul or vice-consul, shall be detained until the consul or vice-consul finds an opportunity to send him back to the dominions of any such government. No person

R. S., 4554.

R. S., 4555.

R. S., 4607.

so arrested shall be detained more than two months after
his arrest; but at the end of that time shall be set at lib-
erty, and shall not be again molested for the same cause.
If any such deserter shall be found to have committed
any crime or offense, his surrender may be delayed until
the tribunal before which the case shall be depending, or
may be cognizable, shall have pronounced its sentence,
and such sentence shall have been carried into effect.
98. Arbitration before shipping-commissioner.

Every shipping-commissioner shall hear and decide any question whatsoever between a master, consignee, agent, or owner, and any of his crew, which both parties agree in writing to submit to him; and every award so made by him shall be binding on both parties, and shall, in any legal proceedings which may be taken in the matter, before any court of justice, be deemed to be conclusive as to the rights of parties. And any document under the hand and official seal of a commissioner purporting to be such submission or award, shall be prima-facie evidence thereof.

In any proceeding relating to the wages, claims, or discharge of a seaman, carried on before any shipping-commissioner, under the provisions of this Title [R. S., 45014613], such shipping-commissioner may call upon the owner, or his agent, or upon the master, or any mate, or any other member of the crew, to produce any log-books, papers, or other documents in their possession or power, respectively, relating to any matter in question in such proceedings, and may call before him and examine any of such persons, being then at or near the place, on any such matter; and every owner, agent, master, mate, or other member of the crew who, when called upon by the shipping-commissioner, does not produce any such books, papers, or documents, if in his possession or power, or does not appear and give evidence, shall, unless he shows some reasonable cause for such a default, be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars for each offense; and, on application made by the shipping-commissioner, shall be further punished, in the discretion of the court, as in other cases of contempt of the process of the court.

99. Soliciting lodgers.

If, within twenty-four hours after the arrival of any Apr. 13, 1904. vessel at any port in the United States, any person, then being on board such vessel, solicits any seaman to become a lodger at the house of any person letting lodgings for hire, or takes out of such vessel any effects of any seaman, except under his personal direction, and with the permission of the master, he shall, for every such offense, be punishable by a fine of not more than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than three months. This sec

tion shall apply to vessels of the United States engaged in the foreign trade and to foreign vessels.

100. Return of seamen from foreign ports, Alaska, and insular ports.

It shall be the duty of the consuls, vice-consuls, commercial agents, and vice-commercial agents, from time to time, to provide for the seamen of the United States, who may be found destitute within their districts, respectively, sufficient subsistence and passages to some port in the United States, in the most reasonable manner, at the expense of the United States, subject to such instructions as the Secretary of State shall give. The seamen shall, if able, be bound to do duty on board the vessels in which they may be transported, according to their several abilities.

R. S., 4577.

R. S., 4578. June 26, 1884.

Sec. 9.

June 19, 1886.

Sec. 18.

Relief and protection of American seamen in foreign Feb. 22, 1907. countries, and shipwrecked American seamen in the Territory of Alaska, in the Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico, the Panama Canal Zone, and the Philippine Islands, thirty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary. All masters of vessels of the United States, and bound to some port of the same, are required to take such destitute seamen on board their vessels, at the request of consular officers, and to transport them to the port in the United States to which such vessel may be bound, on such terms, not exceeding ten dollars for each person for voyages of not more than thirty days, and not exceeding twenty dollars for each person for longer voyages, as may be agreed between the master and the consular officer, when the transportation is by a sailing vessel; and the regular steerage passenger rate not to exceed two cents per mile when the transportation is by steamer; and said consular officer shall issue certificates for such transportation, which certificates shall be assignable for collection. If any such destitute seaman is so disabled or ill as to be unable to perform duty, the consular officer shall so certify in the certificate of transportation, and such additional compensation shall be paid as the Comptroller of the Treasury shall deem proper. Every such master who refuses to receive and transport such seamen on the request or order of such consular officer shall be liable to the United States in a penalty of one hundred dollars for each seaman so refused. The certificate of any such consular officer, given under his hand and official seal, shall be presumptive evidence of such refusal in, any court of law having jurisdiction for the recovery of the penalty. No master of any vessel shall, however, be obliged to take a greater number than one man to every one hundred tons burden of the vessel on any one voyage, or to take any seaman having a contagious disease.

Whenever distressed seamen of the United States are R. S., 4579. transported from foreign ports where there is no consular

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