§10318 — Title 46 Shipping | U.S. Code

Summary

When a captain asks a consular officer in a foreign port to discharge a seaman, the officer must make the captain pay any wages the seaman earned if the seaman met the agreement in section 10302 or otherwise has a right to leave the ship. The officer must then discharge the seaman. Extra pay is required only as this section or chapter 109 says. If the officer fails to require the wages and extra pay, the officer is responsible to the United States for the full amount. A seaman who agrees to be discharged gets pay only up to the discharge time. If a seaman is forced off the ship for reasons not the seaman’s fault or a ship injury, the captain must give the seaman work on a ship the seaman accepts or pay one month’s extra wages. The Secretary of State pays to care for and bring home a sick or hurt seaman. Deductions from wages are allowed only if listed in the account the captain must give under section 10310. The captain must record any deductions in the ship’s official log as they happen and show that log when paying wages or in any hearing.

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.

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.

§10318 Wages on Discharge in Foreign Ports

Summary

Title 46, §10318

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Citations & Metadata