Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/634

Rh 608 S E A S E A ance with that of England. The law relating to seamen in the navy will be found in the articles for the government of the navy (Revised Statutes, a. 1624). Legislation in the interests of merchant seamen dates from 1790. A list of the crew must be delivered to a collector of customs. The shipping articles are the same as those in use in the United Kingdom. For vessels in the coasting trade they are, with certain exceptions, to be in writing or in print. They must in the case of foreign-bound ships be signed before a shipping commissioner appointed by the circuit court or a collector of customs, or (if entered into abroad) a consular officer, where practi- cable, and must be acknowledged by his signature in a prescribed form. One-third of a seaman's wages earned up to that time is due at every port where the ship unlades and delivers her cargo before the voyage is ended. They must be fully paid in gold or its equiva- lent within twenty days of the discharge of the cargo. Advance notes can be made only in favour of the seaman himself or his wife or mother. There is a summary remedy for wages before a district court, a justice of the peace, or a commissioner of a district court. A shipping commissioner may act as arbitrator by written consent of the parties. Seaworthiness is an implied condition of the hiring. There may be an examination of the ship on the complaint of the mate and a majority of the crew. The expenses of an unnecessary investigation are a charge upon the wages of those who complain. A seaman may not leave his ship without the consent of the master. For foreign - bound voyages a medicine -chest and antiscorbutics must be carried, also 60 gallons of water, 100 Ib of salted meat, and 100 lb of wholesome bread for every person on board, and for every seaman at least one suit of woollen clothing, and fuel for the fire of the seaman's room. An assessment of forty cents per month per seaman is levied on every vessel arriving from a foreign port and on every registered coasting vessel in aid of the fund for the relief of sick and disabled seamen. In the navy a deduction of twenty cents per month from each man's pay is made for the same purpose. The offences and punishments are similar to those in the United Kingdom. There is also the additional offence of wearing a sheath knife on shipboard. 1 (J. Wt.) SEAECH, RIGHT OF. " The right of visiting and search- ing ships on the high seas," says Lord Stowell, " whatever be the ships, whatever be the cargoes, whatever be the destinations, is an incontestible right of the lawfully com- missioned ship of a belligerent nation ; because till they are visited and searched it does not appear what the ships or the cargoes or the destinations are ; and it is for the purpose of ascertaining these points that the necessity of this right of visitation and search exists. This right is so clear in principle that no man can deny it who admits the right of maritime capture, because if you are not at liberty to ascertain by sufficient enquiry whether there is property which can be legally captured, it is impossible to capture " (" The Maria," 1 C. Robinson's Reports, 36). This right of search or visitation and search has not been at all times recognized. The second armed neutrality of the Baltic powers in 1800 attempted to withdraw their vessels from the right. The bombardment of Copenhagen in 1801 was one of the results of this policy. Since the convention which followed that event the right has been regarded as established within proper limits, and is often regulated by treaty, especially as to the search of vessels suspected of being engaged in the slave trade. Apart from treaty, the main rules which govern the right are these. (1) It is a belligerent right, and can be exercised only in time of war, unless in the case of a vessel reasonably suspected of piracy or breach of revenue regulations. (2) It can be exercised only by a ship of war duly commissioned by the sovereign of the belligerent power and only in the case of a merchant vessel, whether of an enemy or neutral power. (3) It cannot be exercised in neutral waters, and an attempt to exercise it in such waters is a gross violation of neutrality. (4) It can be exercised only for certain purposes, such as to examine the ship's papers and to see whether she carries any contraband goods. (5) After the ship of war has raised her flag an affirming gun (coup d 'assurance) loaded with blank cartridge must be fired to bring the merchant vessel to. (6) In case of reasonable suspicion it is the duty of the ship of war to detain the 1 See Revised Statutes, ss. 4501-4612; Kent, Comm., vol. iil 177; Parsons, Law of Shipping, vol. ii. 32. merchant vessel for the decision of a prize court. Resist- ance by a neutral vessel, whether alone or in convoy, renders her liable to capture according to the English and United States doctrine. But most Continental authorities lay down that the declaration of the officer in charge of the convoy is to be accepted, and that a refusal to accept such declaration may justify the convoy in resisting search. There is also a conflict of opinion as to whether a neutral loses his neutral rights by loading his goods on board an armed ship of the enemy. It has been held in England that such a proceeding is a violation of neutrality, as afford- ing a presumption of resistance to search. The right of search is historically interesting, as on two occasions it has brought Great Britain into collision with the United States. One of the causes of the war of 1812 was the right then claimed (but since abandoned) by Great Britain of searching vessels of the United States for British subjects serving in them as seamen, with a view to impressing them for the royal navy. In 1861 the British mail steamer "Trent" was stopped on the high seas by a United States ship of war, and Messrs Slidcll and Mason, two commis- sioners of the Confederate States proceeding to Europe, were taken out of her and afterwards imprisoned in the United States. On diplomatic representations being made at Washington by the am- bassadors of Greafc Britain and other powers the commissioners were released, and a war was avoided. See in addition to the ordinary authorities on international law, Visitation and Search, by W. B. Lawrence, Boston, U.S., 1858. SEA-SERPENT. The belief in enormous serpents, both terrestrial and marine, dates from very early times. Pliny (H.N., viii. 14), following Livy (Epit., xviii.), tells us of a lan-i -serpent 120 feet long, which Regulus and his army besieged with baiistae, as though it had been a city, and this story is repeated by several other writers (Florus, ii. 2 ; Val. Max., i. 8 ; Gellius, vi. 3). The most prolific in accounts of the sea-serpent, however, are the early Norse writers, to whom the " S6-Orm " was a subject both for prose and verse. Olaus Magnus (Hist. Gent. Sept., xxi. 24) describes it as 200 feet long and 20 feet round, and states that it not only ate calves, sheep, and swine, but also " disturbs ships, rising up like a mast, and some- times snaps some of the men from the deck," illustrating his account with a vivid representation of the animal in the very act. Pontoppidan, in his Natural History (Eng. tr., 1755, p. 195 sq.), says that its existence was generally believed in by the sailors and fishermen of his time, and recounts the means they adopted to escape it, as well as many details regarding the habits of the creature. The more circumstantial records of comparatively modern times may be most conveniently grouped according to the causes which presumably gave rise to the phenomena de- scribed. (1) A number of porpoises swimming one behind another may, by their characteristic mode of half emerging from and then re-entering the water during respiration, produce the appearance of a single animal showing a succession of snake-like undulations. The figure given by Pontoppidan was very likely suggested by such an appear- ance, and a sketch of an animal seen off Llandudno by several observers 2 looks as though it might have had a similar origin, notwithstanding that this hypothesis was rejected by them. (2) A flight of sea-fowl on one occasion recorded by Professor Aldis 3 produced the appearance of a snake swimming at the surface of the water. (3) A large mass of seaweed has on more than one occasion been cautiously approached and even harpooned under the im- pression that it was such a monster. 4 (4) A pair of bask- ing sharks (Selache maxima) furnish an explanation of some of the recorded observations, as was first pointed out by Frank Buckland. These fish have a habit of swimming 2 Mott, Nature, xxvii. pp. 293, 315, 338 ; also Land and Water, September 1872. 519 ; Ingleby, torn, cit., p. 541. 4 F. Smith, Times, February 1858 ; Herriman, quoted by Gosse, op. cit. postea, p. 338 ; Pringle, Nature, xviii. p. 519, 1878.
 * Nature, ibid. ; also Drew, in vol. xviii. p. 489 ; Bird, torn, cit., p.