Official
Complaints against Masters: rules in 1854
Source: An Act to amend and consolidate
the Acts relating to Merchant Shipping: General Public Statutes; 17th
& 18th Victoria; 1854; Cap. CIV
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[10th August 1854.] |
This Act may be
cited for all Purposes as “The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854…”
CCXXI. Any Three
of the Crew of any British Ship may complain to any Officer in command
to any of Her Majesty’s Ships, or any British Consular Officer, or any
Shipping Master, or any Chief Officer of Customs, that the Provisions or Water
for the Use of the Crew are at any Time of bad Quality, unfit for Use, or
deficient in Quantity; and such Officer may thereupon examine the said
Provisions or Water, or cause them to be examined; and if on Examination such
Provisions or Water are found to be of bad Quality and unfit for Use, or to be
deficient in Quantity, the Person making such Examination shall signify the
same in Writing to the Master of the Ship; and if such Master does not there-upon
provide other proper Provisions or Water in lieu of any so signified to be of a
bad Quality and unfit for Use, or does not procure the requisite Quantity of
any so signified to be insufficient in Quantity of any so signified as
aforesaid to be of a bad Quality and unfit for Use, he shall in every such Case
incur a Penalty not exceeding Twenty Pounds; and upon every such Examination as
aforesaid the Officers making or directing the same shall enter a Statement of
the Result of the Examination in the Official Log, and shall send a Report
thereof to the Board of Trade, and such Report, if produced out of the Custody
of such Board or its Officers, shall be received in Evidence in any legal
Proceeding.
CCXXII. If the
Officer to whom any such Complaint as last aforesaid is made certifies in such
Statement as aforesaid that there was no reasonable Ground for such Complaint,
each of the Parties so complaining shall be liable to forfeit to the Owner out
of his Wages a Sum not exceeding One Week’s Wages.
CCXXIII. In the
following Cases, (that is to say,)
1. If during a
Voyage the allowance of any of the Provisions which any Seaman has by his
Agreement stipulated for is reduced (except in accordance with any Regulations
for Reduction by way of Punishment contained in the Agreement, and also except
for any Time during which such Seaman wilfully and without sufficient Cause
refuses or neglects to perform his Duty, or is lawfully under Confinement for
Misconduct, either on board or on shore);
2. If it is
shown that any of such Provisions are or have during the Voyage been bad in
Quality and unfit for Use;
The Seaman shall
receive by way of Compensation for such Reduction or bad Quality, according to
the Time of its Continuance, the following Sums, to be paid to him in addition
to and be recoverable as Wages; (that is to say,)
1. If his
Allowance is reduced by any Quantity not exceeding One Third of the Quantity
specified in the Agreement, a Sum not exceeding Fourpence
a Day;
2. If his
Allowance is reduced by more than One Third of such Quantity, Eightpence a Day;
3. In respect
of such bad Quality as aforesaid, a Sum not exceeding One Shilling a Day: But
if it is shown to the Satisfaction of the Court before which the Case is tried
that any Provisions the Allowance of which has been reduced could not be
procured or supplied in proper Quantities, and that proper and equivalent
Substitutes were supplied in lieu thereof, the Court shall take such
Circumstances into consideration, and shall modify or refuse Compensation as
the Justice of the Case may require.