95 F. 179 | D. Wash. | 1899
In the testimony and the argument there appears to have been a contention as to whether or not the forecastle where the men slept in the ship was heated and made comfortable as required by existing laws, but no complaint or request respecting that matter was made to the captain. Therefore, whatever the fact may .be as to the actual condition of the sailors’ quarters, the libelants were not justified in leaving the vessel on account of any such defect.
The libelants’ demand, as set forth in their libel, is for the amount of wages which they respectively earned by service in the ship pursuant to their contract; and, as they have stated their case, it is simply a demand for wages. There is no question but what the libel-ants worked faithfully on the voyage from Tacoma to Honolulu, and while the vessel lay at Honolulu and on her return passage to Seattle, and only a part of the wages which they earned has been paid to them.
It is my opinion that the libelants were not justified in leaving the ship, without the master’s consent, by reason of the unseaworthiness of the vessel. The vessel was in a leaking condition on the trip from Tacoma to Honolulu, and it was necessary for the crew to perform considerable labor in manning the pumps; but the vessel did not become water-logged, and she reached Honolulu in safety, and on the return trip to Seattle, when she was light, she took in very little water. After arrival at Seattle, and before the libelants left her, .a
The contract contained in the shipping articles signed by the libel-ants provides for a term of service, and not merely for service upon a specified voyage. By said contract the libelants hound themselves to serve as mariners on hoard the O. F. Rargent on her contemplated voyage, and for a term described as follows:
“From the port of Tacoma to Honolulu, H. I., and back to San Francisco, Cal., as a final port of discharge, cither direct, or via one or more ports on the Pacific Coast, for a term of time not exceeding nine calendar months.”
This contract is worded to meet fairly and fully the requirements of section 4511, Rev. Rt. U. R., which prescribes that every agreement of seamen to serve in American vessels shall set forth definitely, among other things, “the nature and so far as practicable, the duration of the intended voyage or engagement, and the port or country at which the voyage is to terminate.” The Occidental, 87 Fed. 485. This contract is certainly definite as to the duration of the engagement, and specifies ¡he port of final discharge. It is a lawful contract, broken by the libelants by their having quit the service of the ship before her arrival at San Francisco’, or the expiration of the term of nine months, without the master’s consent; and the penally for the breach of their contract is forfeiture of their wages.
On behalf of the libelants it is urged that they be relieved from the