Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/852

 838 FEDEBAIi REPORTER. �wages, according as the crew is discharged in a European or f oreign port ; but they are not entitled to more than they would have eamed on the completion of the voyage." �It f urther provides that the claim to a return passage and wages is satisfied if the seaman is capable of work and gets service on a Ger- man ship, corresponding to his former position and wages, and the ship is bound to the port from which he shipped, or to some port lying near the same. In this latter case free passage and wages are allowed from the port to which he is bound to the port from which he shipped. �The German law npon this point is similar to the English and American laws, and is for the protection of seamen. It is intended, where there is a breach of contract for wages without fanlt of the seaman, to secure to him indemnity ; or, in other words, to place him in as good a position as he would have been in had the contract been performed. In this case no port for the termination of the voyage was fixed in the shipping articles ; the contract was for certain ports, and further on. �The evidence shows that the Trautvetter was purchased by a Ger- man, a resident of Barth, Germany, and that on the seventh of December she was engaged under a charter-party "for a voyage from Charleston, South Carolina, direct to a safe port in the United King- dom or on the continent — Havre to Hamburg, both included, or so near thereto as she can safely get — on terms following ; port of discharge to be named on signing bills of lading," and that Cari Saatman shipped on said vessel as mate. The evidence does not show at what wages he shipped, but, in the absence of proof to the contrary, the inference is that the wages for which he shipped under the char- ter-party were equal to those he had been receiving, and that he would be placed, at the termination of the voyage, in as good a posi- tion as if the original contract had not been terminated. I report the following amount to be due him : �15 montha' and 3 days' wages, at 78 marks per month, �froin September 5, 1879, to December 8, 1880, - marks 1,178 Less amount paid him by captain, - - 239 ���marks 939 = $225 36 �It was contended that the amount of 78 marks, the advance stipulated in the shipping articles to be paid to the mate, should be dedueted from his claim. I hold that it was competent to prove by ��� �