Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 97.djvu/608

 97 STAT. 576 PUBLIC LAW 98-89—AUG. 26, 1983 the complaint involves provisions of food or water, one of the surveyors shall be a medical officer of the Public Health Service, if Written report, available. The surveyors shall make a report in writing, signed by at least 2 of them, stating whether the vessel is fit to proceed to sea or, if not, in what respect it is unfit, making appropriate recommenda- tions about additional seemien, provisions, or stores, or about physical repairs, alterations, or additions necessary to make the vessel fit. (b) On receiving the report, the judge or justice of the peace shall endorse on the report the judgment of the judge or justice on whether the vessel is fit to proceed on the voyage, and, if not, whether the vessel may proceed to smother port at which the deficiencies can be corrected. The master and the crew shall comply with the judgment. (c) The master shall pay all costs of the survey, report, and judgment. However, if the complaint of the crew appears in the report and judgment to have been without foundation, or if the complaint involved provisions of food or water, without reasonable grounds, the master or owner may deduct the amount of the costs and reasonable damages for the detention of the vessel, as deter- mined by the judge or justice of the peace, from the wages of the complaining seamen. Civil penalty. (d) A master of a vessel violating this section who refuses to pay the costs and wages is liable to the United States Government for a civil penalty of $100 and is liable in damages to each person injured by the refusal. § 10904. Refusal to proceed After a judgment under section 10903 of this title that a vessel is fit to proceed on the intended voyage, or after the order of a judgment to make up deficiencies is complied with, if a seaman does not proceed on the voyage, the unpaid wages of the seaman are forfeited. § 10905. Complaints in foreign ports (a) When a complaint under section 10902(a) of this title is made in a foreign port, the procedures of this chapter shall be followed, with a consular officer performing the duties of the judge or justice of the peace. Ob) On review of the marine surveyors' report, the consular officer may approve and must certify any part of the report with which the officer agrees. If the consular officer dissents from any part of the report, the officer shall certify reasons for dissenting from that part. § 10906. Discharge of crew for unsuitability When a survey is made at a foreign port, the surveyors shall state in the report whether, in their opinion, the vessel had been sent to sea unsuitably provided in any important particular, by neglect or design or through mistake or accident. If by neglect or design, and the consular officer approves the finding, the officer shall discharge a seaman requesting discharge and shall require the master to pay one month's wages to that seaman in addition to wages then due, or sufficient money for the return of the seaman to the nearest and most convenient port of the United States, whichever is the greater amount.

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