recover their Summary pro- powers justices of peace, on the complaint of seamen, to hear ceedings to enable seamen to and settle disputes about wages, not exceeding twenty pounds. And if the owners or masters shall refuse to comply with the wages, if under twenty pounds. determination of the justices, the amount of wages which they shall adjudge to be due may be levied by distress upon their goods and chattels. And the determination of the justice or justices is to be final, unless an appeal be interposed by either party to the High Court of Admiralty, within the space of seven days after the order made. The act provides, that if seamen or others are dissatisfied with the order of the magistrates, they must give notice of their intention to appeal to the High Court of Admiralty, within forty-eight hours after the order made. A monition is to be taken out against the adverse party within thirty days; and good and sufficient bail, in double the amount of the wages claimed, must be given before a commissioner of prizes, or the justice who shall have pronounced the order. This bail is to be certified, according to a form given in the schedule, and transmitted without delay to the High Court of Admiralty. Seamen, however, are not to be precluded from the benefit of any agreements entered into before the passing of the act; nor of any other remedy to which they may now resort. 295 CHAPTER VI. OF PILOTS. I. THE conduct of ships into ports and havens being sometimes the most difficult and dangerous part of the whole voyage, and the depth and shallows of inland rivers, and the bounds and capacity of ports, being necessarily less known by sailors than by those who live in the vicinity, it has been the practice of the maritime law from the earliest times, not only to encourage, but to require, the masters of vessels to avail themselves of the service of pilots; that is to say, of persons taken on board at a particular place for the purpose of conducting ships through rivers, roads, and channels, or from or into ports. Thus, by the laws of Oleron, the pilot Laws of was bound to bring the ship into a safe harbour; and if the vessel Oleron. or cargo perished, or were injured whilst under the pilot's charge, the pilot was responsible. If the fault of the pilot were notoriously gross, the crew, by the same law, might lead him to the hatches, and strike off his head. (a) outward and II. The law of England, adopting the reason of the law mer- Masters of chant, though not the barbarous severity of the laws of Óleron, ships in foreign requires, as a general rule, the master of a ship engaged in foreign a pilot in their trade to take a pilot on board, both homeward and outward, homeward voy❤ wherever such pilots are established. (b) The several statutes mentioned in the note below (c) constitute the system of pilotage as at present required and acted upon by the law of England, and practice of merchants. The two last of these statutes, the 52 Pilotage conGeo. 3. c. 39., and the 53 Geo. 3. c. 140., which not only consolidate the former statutes respecting pilotage up and down the River Thames and Medway, but contain enactments applying to (a) Leg. Oler. cap. 23. Molloy, B.2. c. 9. 1. and 2. (b) Law v. Hollingworth, 7 T. R. 160. (c) 3 Geo. 1. c. 13, 7 Geo. 1. c. 21, 5 Geo. 2. c. 20, 21. 43 Geo. 3. c. 152. solidation acts, Masters or owners,or part own Dover, Deal, or the Isle of Thanet, may Thames or other ports of the kingdom generally, will be found useful for reference. But they afford more matter of general regulation than of law; and, being the daily course of business amongst masters, belong rather to their books of practical navigation. III. But the reason of the law in thus requiring masters to take ers, residing at pilots, being to secure owners against the too common confidence of masters in themselves, the law now dispenses with the rule in certain cases where the reason does not apply. Accordingly a pilot their own clause is introduced in the 52 Geo. 3. c. 39. s. 33., by which certain ships in the persons, namely, masters, and owners or part-owners, residing at Dover, Deal, or the Isle of Thanet, are allowed to conduct their own ships up or down the rivers Thames or Medway, or into, or out of, any port or place within the jurisdiction of the cinque ports. This clause was introduced after the judgment of the King's Bench in the case of Kimber v. Blanchard, (a) in which the court. determined that under the acts preceding the 52 Geo. 3. c. 39., a master who shall conduct his own ship was within the penalties of the pilot acts. (b) Rates of pilot age. IV. Upon the same principle in Rex v. Lamb, and Rex v. Neale, a doubt having existed among masters of ships, though not adopted by the court in the trial of these cases, whether a master could under any circumstances move a vessel from her original moorings, a clause was introduced in the twenty-second section. of the 52 Geo. 3., by which it was provided, "That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to prevent any ship or vessel which shall be brought into any port or ports in England, by any pilot duly licensed, from being afterwards removed in such port or ports by the master or mate, or other person belonging to any such ship or vessel, and having the command thereof, or if in ballast, by any other person or persons appointed by any owner, or the master, or any agent of the owner, for the purpose of entering into or going out of any dock, or for changing the moorings of such ship or vessel." V. The rates of pilotage are in almost all cases settled by the 52 Geo. 3. c. 39.: but, where the statute is silent, are to be regulated by the usage of the port. The rates to be paid for pilotage within the rivers Thames and Medway, and in the chan nels leading thereto, to pilots licensed by the corporation of the Trinity House, are enumerated in a table annexed to the statute. And in the same manner in a second table, the rates to be paid (a) Kimber v. Blanchard, 690. 5Burr. 2602. Black. (b) Rex v. Lambe, 5 T. R. K. B. 76. Rex v. Neale, 8 T. R. K. B. 241. for pilotage to the cinque port pilots. (a) But these rates seem only to apply to the Trinity House pilots. (b) VI. By the fifty-seventh and fifty-eighth sections of the same act, if the ship be not a foreign ship, the pilotage may be recovered of the owners or masters, or from the consignees or agents; and may be levied in like manner as penalties are directed to be recovered, demand being made in writing at least fourteen days before such levy. If it be a foreign vessel, the sum due for pilotage may be recovered of the consignees or agents of such vessels, who shall have paid or engaged to pay any charge whatever in relation to such ship or vessel. Such sum due for pilotage to be paid upon proof thereon being made, within fourteen days after such pilotage shall have been performed," on the oath of such pilot before any justice of the peace, that the same has not been paid by the captain of such ship or vessel. If payment thereof shall be demanded from any such consignee or consignees within twenty-one days thereafter, such sums are recoverable in like manner as any penalty under the sum of 201. may be recovered by virtue of the act; and such consignees or agents of foreign ships or vessels are hereby authorized and empowered to retain in their hands respectively out of any monies which they may have received or shall thereafter receive for or on account of such foreign ship or vessel, or the owner or owners thereof, so much as shall be sufficient to pay and discharge such pilotage, and any expenses attending the same." By the fifty-ninth section of the act, masters of vessels which shall be piloted by any other than a duly licensed pilot (within the limits of pilotage,) are liable to forfeit double the amount of the sum which would have been demandable for the pilotage of the vessel; and also an additional penalty of 51. for.every fifty tons' burthen of such vessel, if the corporation of the Trinity House shall consent thereto, in cases where their pilots are concerned; or the lord warden of the cinque ports, or his lieutenant, where the cinque port pilots are concerned, such consent to be certified in writing. (c) Of the pilotage of foreign and British ships. Penalty for not taking a licensed pilot. VII. But masters are not liable to any penalty for acting as Exceptions. pilots of their respective vessels (not anchoring within the limits (a) 52 Geo. 3. c. 39. ss. 3. and 9. (b) Nelson, Main. 6 Rob. A, R. 227. (c) Semble-A forfeiture for refusing to receive a pilot on board is not incurred unless the pilot produces his licence on demanding admission. Usher v. Lyon, 2 Price, 118. As to Any person may be employed as a pi lot to assist ships in dis tress. Particular ex emptions from taking a pilot. Coasters and ships not exceeding the burthen of 60 tons-if registered. Limitation of the responsibility of owners and masters, when pilots are on board, by 52 Geo. 3. c. 39. of any port or place for which pilots are or shall be appointed,) in passing up and down the English Channel; or elsewhere, in passing by any part of the coast of England, in the course of any voyage; or within the limits of the port to which such ship belongs, (such port not being theretofore regulated in respect to pilotage, by any charter or act of parliament,) and may employ any person as pilot, or act themselves as such, in cases where no duly qualified pilot offers; and no person shall in any case be liable to a penalty when employed as pilot in assisting ships in distress. VIII. Besides the above exemption from the necessity of taking a pilot under this act, namely, that of a master conducting his own ship, the second and twenty-ninth sections exempt, " as well all colliers, as also all ships and vessels trading to Norway, to the Cattegat, and to the Baltic, and likewise round the North Cape, and into the White Sea, and all constant traders inwards from the ports between Boulogne inclusive, and the Baltic, such ships and vessels having British registers, and coming up the North Channel by Orfordness, but not otherwise; and likewise, all coasting vessels, and all Irish traders, using the navigation of the river Thames as coasters; and ships not exceeding the burthen of sixty tons, having British registers." But a vessel trading to and from London to Belfast, and proceeding down the Thames on her voyage to the latter port, and not laden with corn, grain, meal, flour bread, or biscuit, is not within the sect. 2. of the 52 Geo. 3. c. 29., which exempts from the obligation of taking a pilot on board, all coasting vessels and all Irish traders using the navigation of the Thames as coasters. (a) IX. In Usher v. Lyon, (b) it was decided that coasting vessels were not compellable to take pilots on board on entering rivers within the limits of a jurisdiction having authority to appoint and license pilots; and that the exemption in the 52 Geo. 3. c. 39. was not confined to coasters using the navigation of the Thames alone. X. By the twenty-sixth section it is enacted, "That owners and masters shall not be responsible for loss or damage, nor shall owners or consignees be prevented from recovering upon any contract of insurance, or other contract relating to any ship or vessel, or any cargo on board the same, by reason of no pilot having been on board such ship or vessel, unless it be proved that the want of a (a) Davison v. Mekibben, 3 Brod. & B. 112. (b) 2 Price, 118; and ante. |