§11106 Wages on Justifiable Complaint of Seamen

Summary

If a sailor on a U.S. ship in a foreign country tells a consular officer the contract was broken because the ship is badly supplied, unsafe, or officers were cruel, the officer will ask questions. If the officer agrees, the captain must pay the wages owed plus one month's additional wages and let the sailor leave. The captain must also offer work on another ship or a passage to the sailor’s original port of engagement, the nearest U.S. port, or a port the sailor accepts. If a ship lacks enough or usable food and a sailor had to take reduced or bad rations, a court can order extra pay it thinks is fair. That extra pay does not apply if the ration cut happened while the sailor willfully failed duties or was lawfully confined for misconduct, unless the cut was unreasonable. It also does not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or to yachts.