Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/49

 with a proper crew, to take a pilot, where required by custom or law, to stow the goods properly, to set sail in fair weather, to transport the cargo with care, and to provide against all but inevitable mishaps. In other respects, American and English laws are almost identical; the admirable decisions of Judge Story, Chancellor Kent, and Chief Justice Marshall having, however, made some refined distinctions.

As it was considered the duty of sailors to remain by their vessel till the cargo was discharged, they had no claim to their wages till then, but, if these were not paid within ten days after such discharge, they had a right to an admiralty process against the vessel. Only one-third of the wages earned can be demanded by the mariner at any port of delivery during the voyage. There may be on this subject a special stipulation; but, if the ship be lost or captured, wages earned up to the last port of delivery may be recovered by the mariner, on his return home, to the place to which the vessel has carried freight; freight being by the laws of all nations "the Mother of Wages:" inasmuch, however, as they depend upon the vessel's safety and the earning of the freight, they cannot be insured. In all cases of capture, the seamen lose their wages, unless the ship is restored. In cases of rescue, recapture, and ransom, the wages of mariners are subject to a general average, but in no other case are they liable to contribute. In cases of shipwreck the rule prevails, as elsewhere, that, if parts of the ship be saved by the exertions of the seamen, they hold a lien on those parts for some kind of compensation, but this is viewed somewhat in the light of salvage. When a seaman dies on