Thirtieth Congress,
thiSecond Session,
BE IT ENACTED
By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress Assembled.

That no consul, vice consul, or commercial agent of the United States shall discharge any mariner, being a citizen of the United States in a foreign port, without requiring the payment of three months’ wages prescribed by the “Act supplementary to the ‘Act concerning consuls, and vice consuls,’ and for the further protection of American seamen,” approved February twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and three; and where no agreement exists between the parties for the payment of any specific sum as wages, the amount of the three months’ wages shall be fixed by the said consul, vice consul, or commercial agent, at a just rate, having due regard to the rates of wages in the port from whence the vessel was cleared; and the fifth, sixth and seventh clauses of the first section of the “Act in addition to the several acts regulating the shipment and discharge of seamen, and the duties of consuls,” approved July twenty, eighteen hundred and forty, be, and the same are hereby, repealed; and where any such mariner, after his discharge and before shipping on board of any vessel to return to the United States, shall have become chargeable to the United States at the port of his discharge, the amount expended for his relief shall be deducted from the two months’ wages to which he is entitled and the balance only be paid over to him.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That any officer or seaman

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may be discharged from any vessel of the United States in a foreign country, without payment of the three months’ wages prescribed in the preceding section, provided such officer or seaman shall be at the same time re-shipped on board another vessel of the United States, and the consul, or commercial agent of the United States, shall signify his approval by endorsing the discharge of such officer or seaman upon the list of the crew of the vessel from which any officer or seaman is discharged.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the master and owner or owners of the vessel, which shall receive such officer or seaman, shall be bound and held for the return of such officer or seaman to the United States being citizens thereof under the same penalties as is now provided by law, and the bonds hereafter given for seamen, shall be so amended and construed as to include all officers or seamen shipped, as provided in the preceding section, and the consul or commercial agent of the United States at the port of shipment shall enter on the list of crew, the names and description of all persons thus shipped.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the twelfth clause or section of the act entitled “An act in addition to the several acts regulating the shipment and discharge of seamen and the duties of consuls,” approved July twenty eighteen hundred and forty, be so amended, as that all complaints in writing to the consul, as therein provided, that a vessel is unseaworthy, shall be signed by the first, or the second and third officers, and a majority of the crew, before the consul or commercial agent shall be authorized to notice such complaint, or proceed to appoint inspectors as therein provided.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the solicitor of the Treasury to cause suits to be brought and prosecuted in all cases of default upon the bonds entered into by masters of vessels and their securities under the first section of the “Act supplementary to the ‘Act concerning consuls,’ and for the further protection of American seamen,” approved February twenty eight, eighteen hundred and three; and for the purpose of enabling him to perform this duty, he is authorized to require, by general regulations or otherwise, the several collectors of the United States to furnish to him certified copies of all such bonds, and of the lists of the several ships’ crews, both on their departure from and their return to the United States; and, also, of the reports of the boarding officers at the first port of the United States where such vessel shall arrive, together with all other information which he may deem necessary.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the consuls, vice consuls, commercial agents and vice commercial agents of the United States may allow any sum, not exceeding twenty dollars, which may be agreed upon, between them and the masters and commanders of vessels of the United States, for transporting each seaman or mariner to 1 the United States from any foreign port or place beyond the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn.