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satisfy themselves that every such vessel so submitted to their inspection is of a structure suitable for the service in which she is to be employed, has suitable accommodations for the crew, and is in condition to warrant the belief that she may be used in navigation with safety to life: Provided, That vessels while laid up and dismantled and out of commission may, by regulations established by the Board of Supervising Inspectors, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, be exempted from any or all inspection under sections forty-four hundred and seventeen, forty-four hundred and eighteen, forty-four hundred and twenty-six, forty-four hundred and twenty-seven. Whenever any inspector or assistant inspector shall, in the performance of his duty, find on board any vessel subject to the provisions of this Title [R. S., 4399-4500] as part of the required equipment thereof, any equipment, machinery, apparatus, or appliances not conforming to the requirements of law, he shall require the same to be placed in proper condition by the owner or master of the said vessel, if possible; and if said inspector or assistant inspector shall find on board any such vessel any life-preservers or fire hose so defective as to be incapable of repair, he shall require that the same be destroyed in his presence by such owner or master. And in any of the foregoing cases local inspectors by whom or under whose supervision said vessel is then being inspected shall have power to enforce the foregoing requirements by revoking the certificate of the said vessel, and by refusing to issue a new certificate to the said vessel until the said requirements shall have been fully complied with or until such action of the local inspectors shall have been reversed, modified, or set aside by the supervising inspector of the district on proper appeal by the owner or master of said vessel, which appeal shall be made to the said supervising inspector within ten days after the final action as aforesaid by the local inspectors; and upon such appeal, duly made, the supervising inspector shall have power to affirm, modify, or set aside such action by the local inspectors.

15. Seagoing barges.

Sec. 10.

The local inspectors of steamboats shall at least once in May 28, 1908. every year inspect the hull and equipment of every seagoing barge of one hundred gross tons or over, and shall satisfy themselves that such barge is of a structure suitable for the service in which she is to be employed, has suitable accommodations for the crew, and is in a condition to warrant the belief that she may be used in navigation with safety to life. They shall then issue a certificate of inspection in the manner and for the purposes prescribed in sections forty-four hundred and twenty-one and forty-four hundred and twenty-three of the Revised Statutes.

Sec. 11.

Sec. 12.

Sec. 13.

Sec. 14.

Sec. 6.

Every such barge shall be equipped with the following appliances of kinds approved by the Board of Supervising Inspectors: At least one lifeboat, at least one anchor with suitable chain or cable, and at least one life-preserver for each person on board.

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A register, enrollment, or license shall not be issued or renewed by any collector or other officer of customs to any such barge unless at the time of issue or renewal such barge has in force the certificates of inspection prescribed by section ten and on board the equipment prescribed by section eleven.

If any such barge shall be navigated without such certificate of inspection, or without any part of the equipment prescribed by section eleven, the owner shall be liable to a penalty of five hundred dollars for each offense. The Commissioner of Light-Houses, the Supervising June 17, 1910. Inspector-General of the Steamboat-Inspection Service, and the Commissioner of Navigation shall convene as a board at such times as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall prescribe to prepare regulations limiting the length of hawsers between towing vessels and seagoing barges in tow and the length of such tows within any of the inland waters of the United States designated and defined from time to time pursuant to section two of the Act approved February nineteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, and such regulations when approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have the force of law.

May 28, 1908.
Sec. 15.

R. S., 4556.

Sec. 7.

The master of the towing vessel shall be liable to the suspension or revocation of his license for any willful violation of regulations issued pursuant to section fourteen in the manner now prescribed for incompetency, misconduct, or unskillfulness.

116. Inspection of seaworthiness at domestic ports.

If the first and second officers under the master or a Dec. 21, 1898. majority of the crew of any vessel bound on any voyage shall, before the vessel shall have left the harbor, discover that the vessel is too leaky or is otherwise unfit in her crew, body, tackle, apparel, furniture, provisions, or stores to proceed on the intended voyage, and shall require such unfitness to be inquired into, the master shall, upon the request of the first and second officers under the master or such majority of the crew, forthwith apply to the judge of the district court of that judicial district, if he shall there reside, or if not, to some justice of the peace of the city, town, or place for the appointment of surveyors, as in section forty-five hundred and fifty-seven provided, taking with him two or more of the crew who shall have made

such request; and any master refusing or neglecting to comply with these provisions shall be liable to a penalty of five hundred dollars. [This section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts-Dec. 21, 1898, sec. 26.]

Sec. 8.

The judge, or justice, in a domestic port, shall, upon R. 8., 4557. such application of the master or commander, issue his Dec. 21, 1898. precept, directed to three persons in the neighborhood, the most experienced and skillful in maritime affairs that can be procured; and whenever such complaint is about the provisions one of such surveyors shall be a physician or a surgeon of the Public Health and Marine Hospital July 1, 1902. Service, if such service is established at the place where the complaint is made. It shall be the duty of such surveyors to repair on board such vessel and to examine the same in respect to the defects and insufficiencies complained of, and make reports to the judge, or justice, as the case may be, in writing, under their hands or the hands of two of them, whether in any or in what respect the vessel is unfit to proceed on the intended voyage, and what addition of men, provisions, or stores, or what repairs or alterations in the body, tackle, or apparel will be necessary; and upon such report the judge or justice shall adjudge and shall indorse on his report his judg ment whether the vessel is fit to proceed on the intended voyage, and, if not, whether such repairs can be made or deficiencies supplied where the vessel then lies, or whether it is necessary for her to proceed to the nearest or most convenient place where such supplies can be made or deficiencies supplied; and the master and the crew shall, in all things, conform to the judgment. The master or commander shall, in the first instance, pay all the costs of such review, report, or judgment, to be taxed and allowed on a fair copy thereof, certified by the judge or justice. But if the complaint of the crew shall appear upon the report and judgment to have been without foundation, the master or commander, or the owner or consignee of such vessel, shall deduct the amount thereof, and of reasonable damages for the detention, to be ascertained by the judge or justice, out of the wages of the complaining seamen. [This section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts-Dec. 21, 1898, sec. 26.]

Dec. 21, 1898.
Sec. 9.

If, after judgment that such vessel is fit to proceed on R. s., 4558. her intended voyage, or after procuring such men, provisions, stores, repairs, or alterations as may be directed, the seamen, or either of them, shall refuse to proceed on the voyage, he shall forfeit any wages that may be due him. [This section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts-Dec. 21, 1898, sec. 26.]

R. S., 4559.

Dec. 21, 1898.
Sec. 10.

R. 8., 4560.

R. S., 4561.

Sec. 4.

Sec. 11.

117. Inspection of seaworthiness at foreign ports.

Upon a complaint in writing, signed by the first or second officer and a majority of the crew of any vessel while in a foreign port, that such vessel is in an unsuitable condition to go to sea because she is leaky or insufficiently supplied with sails, rigging, anchors, or any other equipment, or that the crew is insufficient to man her, or that her provisions, stores, and supplies are not, or have not been during the voyage, sufficient and wholesome; thereupon, in any of these or like cases, the consul, or a commercial agent who may discharge any duties of a consul, shall cause to be appointed three persons, of like qualifications with those described in section forty-five hundred and fifty-seven, who shall proceed to examine into the causes of complaint, and they shall be governed in all their proceedings and proceed as provided in section forty-five hundred and fifty-seven. [This section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts-Dec. 21, 1898, sec. 26.]

The inspectors appointed by any consul or commercial agent, in pursuance of the preceding section, shall have full power to examine the vessel and whatever is aboard of her, so far as is pertinent to their inquiry, and also to hear and receive any other proofs which the ends of justice may require; and if, upon a view of the whole proceedings, the consul or other commercial agent is satisfied therewith, he may approve the whole or any part of the report, and shall certify such approval; or if he dissents, he shall certify his reasons for dissenting.

The inspectors in their report shall also state whether June 26, 1884. in their opinion the vessel was sent to sea unsuitably proDec. 21, 1898. vided in any important or essential particular, by neglect or design, or through mistake or accident; and in case it was by neglect or design, and the consular officer approves of such finding, he shall discharge such of the crew as request it, and shall require the payment by the master of one month's wages for each seaman over and above the wages then due, or sufficient money for the return of such of the crew as desire to be discharged to the nearest and most convenient port of the United States, or by furnishing the seamen who so desire to be discharged with employment on a ship agreed to by them. But if in the opinion of the inspectors the defects or deficiencies found to exist have been the result of mistake or accident, and could not, in the exercise of ordinary care, have been known and provided against before the sailing of the vessel, and the master shall in a reasonable time remove or remedy the causes of complaint, then the crew shall remain and discharge their duty. [This section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts-Dec. 21, 1898, sec. 26.]

R. S., 4562.

The master shall pay all such reasonable charges for inspection under such complaint as shall be officially cer

tified to him under the hand of the consul or commercial agent; but in case the inspectors report that the complaint is without any good and sufficient cause, the master may retain from the wages of the complainants, in proportion to the pay of each, the amount of such charges, with such reasonable damages for detention on that account as the consul or commercial agent directing the inquiry may officially certify.

Every master who refuses to pay such wages and R. S., 4563. charges shall be liable to each person injured thereby, in damages, to be recovered in any court of the United States in the district where such delinquent may reside or be found, and in addition thereto be punishable by a fine of one hundred dollars for each offense.

118. Provisions and water.

Dec. 21, 1898.

Sec. 12.

Should any master or owner of any merchant vessel R. S., 4564. of the United States neglect to provide a sufficient quantity of stores to last for a voyage of ordinary duration to the port of destination, and in consequence of such neglect the crew are compelled to accept a reduced scale, such master or owner shall be liable to a penalty as provided in section forty-five hundred and sixty-eight of the Revised Statutes.

Any three or more of the crew of any merchant-vessel R. S., 4565. of the United States bound from a port in the United States to any foreign port, or being of the burden of seventy-five tons or upward, and bound from a port on the Atlantic to a port on the Pacific, or vice versa, may complain to any officer in command of any of the vessels of the United States Navy, or consular officer of the United States, or shipping-commissioner or chief officer of the customs, that the provisions or water for the use of the crew are, at any time, of bad quality, unfit for use, or deficient in quantity. Such officer shall thereupon examine the provisions or water, or cause them to be examined; and if, on examination, such provisions or water are found to be of bad quality and unfit for use, or to be deficient in quantity, the person making such examination shall certify the same in writing to the master of the ship. If such master does not thereupon provide other proper provisions or water, where the same can be had, in lieu of any so certified to be of a bad quality and unfit for use, or does not procure the requisite quantity of any so certified to be insufficient in quantity, or uses any provisions or water which have been so certified as aforesaid to be of bad quality and unfit for use, he shall, in every such case, be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars; and upon every such examination the officers making or directing the same shall enter a statement of the result of the examination in the log-book, and shall send a report thereof to the district judge for the judicial district embracing the port to which such vessel

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