PRIA Logo™
Title 46, ShippingRelease 119-102

§10318 Wages on Discharge in Foreign Ports

Title 46 › Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen › Part G — Merchant Seamen Protection and Relief › CHAPTER 103 — FOREIGN AND INTERCOASTAL VOYAGES › § 10318

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

When a sailor or the ship’s captain asks a U.S. consular officer in a foreign port to let a sailor leave the ship, the consular officer must make the captain pay any wages owed if the sailor fulfilled the agreement or has a right to be discharged. The officer then discharges the sailor. Extra pay can only be required if this rule or chapter 109 allows it. If the officer discharges a sailor without getting the wages owed, the officer is responsible to the U.S. government for the unpaid amount. If the sailor agreed to leave, they get pay only up to the time of discharge. If the sailor is forced off for reasons other than neglect, incompetence, or injury suffered on the ship, the captain must find the sailor work on a ship the sailor accepts or pay one month’s extra wages. The Secretary of State must pay to care for and return sick or injured sailors to the United States. Deductions from wages are allowed only if they are listed in the required written wage account (or a later supplement); the captain must record any deductions and amounts in the ship’s log as they happen and show the log when wages are paid or disputed.

Full Legal Text

Title 46, §10318

Shipping, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)When a master or seaman applies to a consular officer for the discharge of the seaman, the consular officer shall require the master to pay the seaman’s wages if it appears that the seaman has carried out the agreement required by section 10302 of this title or otherwise is entitled to be discharged. Then the consular officer shall discharge the seaman. A consular officer shall require the payment of extra wages only as provided in this section or in chapter 109 of this title.
(b)When discharging a seaman, a consular officer who fails to require the payment of the wages due a seaman at the time, and of the extra wages due under subsection (a) of this section, is accountable to the United States Government for the total amount.
(c)A seaman discharged under this section with the consent of the seaman is entitled to wages up to the time of discharge, but not for any additional period.
(d)If the seaman is discharged involuntarily, and it appears that the discharge was not because of neglect of duty, incompetency, or injury incurred on the vessel, the master shall provide the seaman with employment on a vessel agreed to by the seaman or shall provide the seaman with one month’s extra wages.
(e)Expenses for the maintenance and return of an ill or injured seaman to the United States shall be paid by the Secretary of State. If a seaman is incapacitated by illness or injury and prompt discharge is necessary, but a personal appearance of the master before a consular officer is impracticable, the master may provide transportation to the seaman to the nearest consular officer for discharge.
(f)A deduction from wages of the seaman is permitted only if the deduction appears in the account of the seaman required to be delivered under section 10310 of this title, except for matters arising after delivery of the account, in which case a supplementary account is required. During a voyage, the master shall record in the official logbook the matters about which deductions are to be made with the amounts of the deductions. The entries shall be made as the matters occur. The master shall produce the official logbook at the time of payment of wages, and also before a competent authority on the hearing of any complaint or question about the payment of wages.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised sectionSource section (U.S. Code) 1031846:68246:683 section 10318 establishes consular officers’ responsibilities in discharging seamen and the seamen’s right to wages when discharged and when incapacitated by illness or injury. It also requires a master to record in the official logbook all matters for which deductions are to be made from seamen’s wages.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

46 U.S.C. § 10318

Title 46, Shipping

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102