some plan whereby such evils may not be of frequent recurrence. It is clear, that unless measures be at once devised whereby we can supply the places of the seamen thus withdrawn, we shall. ere long, be without any at all. Of those who are now employed on shore in California, &c., or in the British navy, it may be fairly presumed the largest portion will never return. We must look, then, to the creation of a new generation of sailors. We shall otherwise be brought to a stand in our progress towards commercial supremacy, by the want of men to carry on the work-like a successful general who, on the field of victory, and in the midst of triumph, is arrested by the disappearance of his army. Since commencing the discussion of this subject, I learn that the Marine Society of New York has drawn up a memorial to Congress, requesting the passage of a law by which every vessel shall be required to ship a certain number of apprentices, proportioned to her tonnage.

This measure, if adopted and enforced, will prepare the way for securing, during the present generation, a fine body of native seamen; and I hope the mercantile community will urge its passage by Congress, before their adjournment. Let the bill further provide that the most promising and deserving of these apprentices be sent to a nautical school, where they may be educated in the higher branches of their profession, with a view to the command of vessels, each master being requir ed to report their individual character and progress to the owner of the vessel in which they may be shipped. Then if Congress will not, or can not, provide for the establishment and maintenance of a nautical school, let it be done by private enterprise and contributions. A movement in this direction has been already made in Searsport, Me., where a few energetic shipmasters and public-spirited citizens have founded a school for educating young men for the sea. If, according to the London Shipping Gazette, "the empire of the seas must before long be ceded to America," 'tis certainly the policy of the government to take this matter in hand; but if they will not, or can not, then I say let owners and underwriters, and the patriotic generally, undertake and prosecute the work.

Encouragements should be held out to the bold and hardy young men of our country to select the sea as their scene of life and usefulness, and this they will do, and in great numbers, too, if advantages such as are proposed should be secured to them. While liberally-patronized schools are established and sustained throughout the country, to meet the necessities of almost every other class of our citizens, none (with the single exception referred to,) have been provided for the sailor. The boy whose taste and ambition lead him toward the ocean, must educate himself for his arduous and most useful calling, or assume its responsibili ties (second to none other) destitute of the knowledge which is absolutely essential to their proper discharge. The youth of our country are thus invited and prepared to enter any and every other line of life; educated, too, on the most liberal scale, at public expense; while those who would be sailors are, in fact, deferred from their purpose by the want of means and opportunity of qualifying themselves for the profession of their choice; a profession which, at no time inferior either in honor or utility to those which are fostered by public care, is at this particular crisis, in some respects, perhaps, the most important to our national interests. Let schools for sailors, then, be established at once, and let efforts be made to induce young men to enter into the merchant service. The expense, even if they be entirely free schools, will be more than repaid, and that soon, by the increased security to life and property at sea which will ensue, while provision will thus be made for the permanent supply of seamen proportioned to the increasing demands of commerce.

To meet present necessities, however, there are other measures which should be adopted. The plans suggested for the creation of a new and better class of seamen are rather prospective than immediate in their results. Notwithstanding the actual deficiency as to numbers from which commerce now suffers, our vessels may be supplied with far better average crews, if the present system of shipping men were abolished. In no department of trade does such an anomaly exist as that which prevails in reference to this point. To purchase an article without inspection, or to pay for what is not received, is peculiar to ship owners. They employ

men as sailors who are not sailors-they hire laborers as able-bodied and efficient who are feeble and impotent, and then besides pay them in advance for work not yet performed, thus giving a premium for desertion and consequent loss. Why should the responsibility of supplying a crew be left with persons who have no direct interest in the matter at all? whose only care is to secure to themselves the payment of a debt which, in nine cases out of ten, is only a fraud on the sailor? The shipment of seamen should be at once taken out of the hands of the landlords, and the payment of advances stopped. Until this be done, it will be vain to expect any improvement in the quality of seamen, and the rates of advance will continue to increase.

The landlords will require more and more advance money, for the simple reason that the large sums paid nominally to the sailor furnish only so much increased plunder (significantly termed "blood-money") for the landlord. "Tis a fact too monstrous to require proof, that the bills for grog, &c., contracted at the boarding-house, swallow up the far greater share of the sailor's advance, and these bills usually bear a remarkable proportion to the state of the shipping-market. Why merchants will aid in supporting such a system it is hard to imagine, unless they be supposed ignorant thereof. I would propose, then, for consideration, either that masters of vessels ship their crews themselves, which would enable them at least to know whether they were going to sea with sailors instead of landsmen; or, as a more sure and efficient remedy for existing evils, that there be established in every port, (the large ones at least,) a shipping-house or rendezvous, conducted on a plan similar to that which the government pursues with regard to the navy. Let competent persons be appointed, whose duty it shall be to examine every man who offers to ship, as to his qualifications. No one who was not a sailor could then be palmed off on some luckless master as an efficient hand.* There should also be a surgeon to examine into the physical condition of the men, which would save owners the expense of maintaining a hospital on board their ships, and secure masters the services of the whole crew. The joint interest of owners, underwriters and masters, should unite them in adopting and carrying out this measure. It has been partially in operation at New Orleans for about six months, and already produced many good results.

The expense would be trifling compared with the sure benefit. Two or three retired masters could easily be found in every port, who would gladly and faithfully superintend the shipping and examination of the men, and the services of a surgeon for a few hours every day could be secured at no great cost. Instead of paying advances, which, as I have stated, rarely enrich the sailor, let other measures be adopted to induce men to ship. The system pursued by the whalers, is in principle an excellent one. Let the sailor have an interest in the voyage, by receiving a small portion of its profits. This will attach him to the ship, and stimulate him to do his duty. An honest owner would thus, too, secure the confidence and affection of a crew, and always be able to man his ship efficiently, while the influence upon the sailor will be most salutary, tending to beget in them habits of economy, and a healthful professional ambition. A retired shipmaster thus writes upon this point: "During the period in which I sailed before the mast, I made a voyage in a Salem East Indiaman to Sumatra and thence to Europe. On board that ship the custom prevailed of allowing to each of the crew a half a ton privilege, to be filled with the sailors' venture, the captain effecting sales on the seamans' account, without charge. Navigation was also taught on board by the officers. As the result of all this pains-taking to benefit seamen, nearly all of that crew subsequently became officers of vessels. Much of the evil now existing in reference to the scarcity of seamen, is owing to the fact that there is no tie connecting them with the owners and masters; no common bond of interestthey are only as day-laborers hired by the job."

They care for neither ship nor owner beyond the present; but let it be an established system that a successful voyage shall proportionately benefit the sailor, whose toils have contributed to the result, as well as the owners, and let every

* See an article in "Sailors' Magazine," November, 1853, p. 89.

man who exerts himself to do his duty, who is obedient and respectful to his officers and faithful to his employers, be rewarded by increased compensation, and by being retained in the employment of the merchant whom he has thus served, and there will be no difficulty in securing good and true men. Once make it the interest of the sailor to stick by his ship and his captain, and reward fidelity with a preference over mutiny and desertion, and you will furnish a motive to good conduct, which is at present but seldom regarded. The more intimately acquainted owners, masters, and seamen can mutually become, the better for all parties, and, therefore, as many inducements as possible should be devised to attach men to their ships.

The system of shipping for the run should be abandoned, as far as practicable, and whenever a crew is discharged, each man should receive a certificate of said discharge from the master, stating what his character and conduct had been during his term of service. These certificates should always entitle those who were commended, to a preference at the rendezvous. So long as sailors are all treated alike, the good faring no better than the bad, neither owners nor masters troubling themselves to find out which among them is worthy, or offering any reward for meritorious service, it were unreasonable to expect any material change for the better. Sailors will continue to wander about from port to port, indifferent as to the owner or master into whose hands chance or necessity may throw them, regarding all as equally their enemies, or at least as equally unconcerned about their welfare. A mere increase of wages will effect no improvement; and so long as the landlords fatten upon the spoils, merchants may expect to pay more and be worse served, for the result is to crowd our ships with foreigners, to increase anarchy, and to drive good men out of the service.

There are other suggestions that occur to me, in this connection, but the subject has already so far exceeded reasonable bounds, that I will now bring it to a close. If, by the means advised, the character and qualifications of masters and crews can be raised to the required standard, all other needed improvements will follow of themselves in due order and season. The construction and equipment of vessels will be rendered more perfect and complete. A good master and a smart crew will not be long in an unscaworthy craft. With properly educated masters, the necessary instruments and other appliances for skillful navigation will, as a matter of course, be supplied-thus prepared for the voyage, the risks of speed will also be greatly diminished. We shall be enabled to drive the ships, if not with entire safety, at least with greatly diminished peril; and we may then hope to restore order and obedience among the crews, the last but not the least of the alarming evils now prevalent. Insubordination stalks unchecked on the decks of our ships. Mutinies, desertion, and anarchy bid fair to destroy our commerce. Power has been taken from the officers, while yet nothing is being done to secure moral improvements among the men. In theory, it may be very well to rely on the good disposition of a crew; but in practice, the result has been that resistance to authority, conflicts between officers and men, skulking from duty, meeting of vessels, trials, and loss to all concerned, are now more frequent than ever before, and are, besides, multiplying daily.

Something must be done, and done speedily, or we must be prepared for even worse evils. That sailors should be, and can be controlled, without the lash, I have never doubted; nor am I an advocate for the restoration of this particular mode of punishment; but, at the same time, I am thoroughly persuaded that unless the character and qualities of seamen be improved by some measures similar to those proposed, we shall be compelled either to go back to the old code, or adopt one in reality more severe; or else—and it is an alternative as certain as alarining surrender our ships to the command of their crews. If the public, during the last nine months, has lost upwards of $9,000,000 by marine disasters, under the present system, to what an amount the losses of the next year will probably be swelled, is a problem that should be calculated. It is clear that there are evils to be corrected of the most portentous magnitude. A common interest should unite all good men together in devising remedies. I have assumed throughout my discussion of the subject that such is the general feeling. Increased se

curity of navigation is as profitable at least to the owner as to the underwriter. Each loss prevented is so much added to the chances in favor of the owner, and consequently lowers the rates of insurance; and it is self-evident that every dollar saved to the insurance office is saved to the public.

JOURNAL OF MERCANTILE LAW.

COLLISION-LIGHTS-APPORTIONMENT.

United States Circuit Court. Before Judge Nelson.

The schooner Industry

vs. Robert J. A. and John Ward, owners of the schooner Thomas Martin. Appeal in Admiralty, September 11, 1856.

The libel in this case was filed by the owners of the Industry to recover damages against the Thomas Martin for a collision that happened in the neighborhood of Great Egg Harbor, several miles off the coast, in which the Industry was run down, and became a total loss. The collision took place about nine o'clock at night, on the 14th May, 1849, the Thomas Martin going down the coast, in ballast, bound for Norfolk, Virginia, and the Industry coming up heavily laden with corn, and bound for New Bedford.

The direction of the coast where the collision occurred is nearly northeast and southwest, along which the two vessels were moving in opposite directions. The wind was north, or west by north, and both vessels claim that they were close hauled the Industry on the larboard, and the Thomas Martin on the starboard tack; and, at the same time, each insists that she was the privileged vessel, and that the other had the wind free. The Industry further insists that she was bearing in a direction towards the land, so as to get into smooth water under a lee shore, and was necessarily, therefore, close hauled from the course of the vessel.

The Industry had a bright light on her fore rigging, and was seen by the hands on the Thomas Martin some fifteen minutes or more before the collision; and as the combined speed of the two vessels was some ten or eleven miles an hour, the vessels must at this time have been between two and three miles apart. The Thomas Martin had no lights, and she was not discovered by the hands on the Industry till within a few minutes before the collision occurred. The night was cloudy and the sky overcast, and although there is some discrepancy as to the degree of darkness, it seems to be generally agreed that a vessel without lights would not be discovered beyond half a mile. Several of the witnesses fix the distance considerably short of this. At half a mile's distance the two vessels, with their combined speed, would meet in some three minutes. Both vessels claim that when they saw cach other, the approaching vessel was to the leeward, and continued so till the moment of the collision; and, as a consequence of this collision, each, in the emergency, putting the helm hard down, both luffing into the wind, and into each other. The better opinion is, that if either of the vessels at this time had bore away, and the other had put his helm hard down, the collision would have been avoided.

Judge Judson, who heard the cause below, dismissed the libel, holding that the Industry was in fault in not putting her helm to port, instead of hard down, and bearing away before the wind. The learned judge arrived at this conclusion upon the application of the nautical rule, which is well settled, that when two sailingvessels are approaching each other, both having the wind free, and consequently the power of readily controlling their movements, the vessel on the larboard tack must give way, and each pass to the right; and the same rule governs vessels sailing on the wind, and approaching each other, when it is doubtful which is to windward.

I agree to this conclusion, as I am inclined to think, according to the evidence of the hands on the Industry, when properly weighed, her position was such in relation to the other vessel, that her helm should have been ported, and she should

have passed to the right, instead of luffing into the wind with the idea of passing on the other side.

But I am unable to concur with the Court below in the other branch of the case, namely, that the Thomas Martin was not in fault. I do not intend to disturb the general usage that prevails-both in narrow rivers and open seas-that sailing-vessels are not bound to carry lights when under way at night. This usage has long prevailed, and has been recognized, to a certain extent, by the courts generally in this country and in England. It was said, on the argument, that the rule had been recently changed in England by the Trinity Masters. The soundness and propriety of the usage have often been questioned heretofore by eminent judges, both in England and this country. The fault, I think, chargeable upon the Thomas Martin, is her neglect to show a light after she discovered the light of the Industry. If she had done so, there is every reason for believing the collision would not have occurred. As we have already shown, at this time the two vessels were from two to three miles apart, and within this distance, while running with the combined speed only of ten or twelve miles the hour, if each vessel had seen the other, it would have been strange if they could not have avoided the meeting. Although the night was not unusually dark, yet the sky was so overcast and cloudy, that it is admitted a vessel could be seen without a light not exceeding half a mile. While, therefore, the hands on the Thomas Martin had fifteen minutes more time and the distance of some two-and-a-half miles running within which to adopt the proper measures for avoiding the Industry, the hands on board of her had only some three minutes' time and half a mile's distance, within which to adopt the like measures. The practice of showing lights when a vessel is approaching in a dark or cloudy night, is common among prudent and skillful navigators, and has frequently been a subject of commendation by the courts, and taken into consideration in determining cases of this description. Its fitness and propriety are too obvious to require illustration or argument. This case furnishes a striking exemplification of its necessity, and the misfortune attending its neglect. The danger was impending almost at the moment of the discovery of the Thomas Martin, and this from neglect in not showing a light at the proper time.

I am also inclined to think the Thomas Martin in fault for racing with the schooner John Cunningham on that night. She had all her sails set, with a pretty fresh wind, and was running at a rate of speed, and under circumstances that cannot well be justified, considering the character of the night. This vessel had passed the Cunningham, and was some two miles ahead at the time, which the counsel supposed put an end to the racing. But the struggle was to see which vessel could reach Norfolk ahead; and this accounts for all sails being kept set in the night, when most of the vessels running the course at the same time had taken in their light sails, in consequence of the freshness of the wind.

Upon the whole, I think both vessels in fault, and that the loss must be apportioned.

LIBEL BY STEAMBOAT TO RECOVER DAMAGES FOR COLLISION ON NORTH RIVER.

In United States Circuit Court, October, 1853. Before Chief Justice NELSON. The steamboat Splendid vs. the scow Globe. His honor delivered the following opinion on an appeal from Judge Betts, sitting in the Court below, as Admiralty Judge :

NELSON, C. J.-The libel was filed in this case by the steamboat against the scow, to recover damages for a collision that occurred on the North River, on the 6th November, 1850, about 11 o'clock at night, opposite the Twin Brothers, a ledge of rocks a little below Cold Spring.

The steamboat was going up the river with a load of passengers for Hamburgh, her place of destination, and the scow was descending with a cargo of lumber. The scow struck the steamboat nearly head on against her stern, a little to the starboard, knocking the stem out and breaking the planks, so that she was obliged to be run on to the west shore, where she filled and sunk.