Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/46



Nor were the interests of the common seamen overlooked. Boys of all classes, when fit, had the privilege of entering the higher free schools, in which they could be educated for almost every profession. An ignorant American native seaman was, therefore, scarcely to be found; they all, with few exceptions, knew how to read, write, and cypher. Although, in all nations, a mariner is considered a citizen of the world, whose home is on the sea, and, as such, can enforce compensation for his labour in the Courts of any country, his contract being recognised by general jurisprudence, the cases of disputes between native-born Americans and their captains have ever been less frequent both in this country and abroad than between British masters and seamen, owing, in a great measure, to the superior education and the more rigorous discipline on board American vessels. In the United States, the master of the ship was, and is still, usually employed to hire the seamen; and although, in hiring, he is the agent of the owners (and they have co-ordinate power), still if they do not dissent, the engagement entered into by the master with the seamen is binding on the owners also. The contract is, however, not made with the person of the master, but with the shipowners; therefore, if there is no master, the seamen contract to sail under any master who may be appointed. Thus, on the one side of the contract is the seaman, and, on the other, the master or owner—the master acting as the owner's agent, under ordinary circumstances, although the owner, from his holding the property in the ship, is more directly affected by the contract.