Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/61

 when advanced in years or infirm. Children, it would seem, were only eligible in cases where the fathers had sailed for ten years beyond the limits of the Gulf of Venice, or along the Dalmatian coast.

The "Scuola di San Nicolo," as above described, was preserved with all its laws and rules during the first occupation of the Austrians, from 1797 to 1806, after which it was suppressed by the then Government of Italy. An invalid fund was then established, which may be called an institution for the relief of invalid sailors. One-sixtieth was deducted from all payments made on account of the navy, and assigned to it; it thus becoming, in reality, a military institution, under the protection of the Royal Navy. Subsequently additional funds were assigned to it, in the shape of a percentage on all prizes, the proportion given depending on whether the prize or its captor were a ship of war, a privateer, or a merchant vessel.

By a decree of 1811, the endowment of the institution was further augmented, and the means of giving relief were consequently increased. Three per cent., instead of one-sixtieth, was granted out of the pay of the Royal Navy; and merchant seamen were likewise obliged to contribute their respective shares of pay or prize money. Finally, in addition to the percentage on prizes, the following casual sources of emolument were set aside for this institution:—The proceeds of wrecked vessels, if not claimed within a certain time; the pay due to sailors or others, who had deserted from vessels in the service of the State; half of the pay due to deserters from the merchant service; and the amount due on account of pay, prize-money, &c., to sailors or others dying at sea, if