Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/205

 UNITED STATES V. BÀIR. 193 �Fox, D. T. The defendant, one of the crew of the sehooner J. S. & S. C. Adams, was indicted for desertion at this port. �The articles, which were signed by him ai Philadelphia July 19th, descrihed the voyage as "from that port to Port- land, Maine; thence to some one or more ports east, if re quired by the master, and back to a western pdrt of dis- charge. Terra not to exceed two months." The vessel arrived at this port, discharged her cargo, and was about te proceed to the Kennebec river for ice, on the thirty-first .of July, when the defendant deserted. The defence was placed on two groûnds — First, that the description, in the articles, of the voyage was not suffioiently definite and specifie, se as to bind the crew to its performance ; and, aecondly, that the articles were null and void, not having been signed by Bain in the presence of the shipping commissioner, master, con- signee, or owner. These objections were overruled by the district judge, and, a verdict of guilty having been rendered, the defendant now moves for a new trial. �The Kevised Statutes, § 4520, declare that every master of a vessel of over 50 tons burden, bound from a port in one state to a port in any other than an adjoining state, shall, before he proceeds on his voyage, make an agree- ment, in writing or in print, with every seaman, declaring the voyage or term of time for which such seaman shall be shipped. This provision is taken from the act of 1790, and has frequently been passed upon by courts of admiralty. These articles describe the voyage as from Philadelphia to Portland, thence to one or more ports east, if required, and back to a western port of discharge — the term not to exceed two months. This description bears a strong similarity to that found in Thompson v. The Oakland, i Law Kep. 301, in which Judge Sprague held that articles describing a voyage as "from Boston to one or more ports south, thence to one or more ports in Europe, and back to a port of discharge in the United States," were suffioiently precise and definite tobe obligatory upon the parties, and such, we hold, were the pres- ent articles. �v.5,no.3— 13 ����