File No. 711.0021/69.
You will transmit one of the copies to the Government to which you are
respectively accredited, retaining the other for the files of your
mission.
[Inclosure.]
[Untitled]
Department Circular No. 268.]
Department of Commerce,
Washington,
December 14, 1915.
To Collectors of Customs, Supervising and Local
Inspectors, Steamboat-Inspection Service, and Others
Concerned:
Section 13 of the Seamen’s Act of March 4, 1915, will apply to all
foreign vessels of 100 tons gross and upwards (except those
navigating rivers exclusively and the smaller inland lakes and
except fishing or whaling vessels or yachts) which depart from any
port of the United States on or after March 4, 1916.
2. The section provides that 40 per centum in the first year after
that date, 45 per centum in the second year, 50 per centum in the
third year, 55 per centum in the fourth year, and thereafter 65 per
centum of the vessel’s deck crew, exclusive of licensed officers and
apprentices, shall be of a rating not less than able seaman.
3. An able seaman, to conform to the requirements of the section,
must have the following qualifications:
[Page 27]
- (a)
- He must be 19 years of age or upward.
- (b)
- He must have bad at least three years’ service on deck at
sea or on the Great Lakes on a vessel or vessels of 100 tons
gross or upward, including decked fishing vessels (not
including vessels navigating rivers exclusively and smaller
inland lakes, and not including whaling vessels or yachts or
fishing vessels, unless the fishing vessels are decked
fishing vessels). Service on deck in foreign naval vessels
or foreign vessels similar to vessels of the United States
Coast Guard may be included.
- (c)
- He must have been found competent upon examination as to
eyesight, hearing, and physical condition under rules
prescribed by the Department of Commerce. The rules so
prescribed are set forth in Form 983, Steamboat-Inspection
Service, File S. This examination in the case of able seamen
on foreign vessels may be conducted by the proper
authorities of the country of which the seamen are citizens
or subjects.
- (d)
- Section 13 also provides for a special class of able
seamen who may compose not more than one-fourth of the
number of able seamen required on a vessel. Able seamen may
qualify for this special class after having served on deck
twelve months at sea or on the Great Lakes, but in addition
to the examination mentioned in paragraph (c), they must
have been found competent upon examination as to knowledge
of the duties of seamanship under rules prescribed by the
Department of Commerce. The rules so prescribed are set
forth in Commerce Department Circular No. 264, second
edition, Steamboat-Inspection Service. This examination in
the case of able seamen on foreign vessels may be conducted
by the proper authorities of the country of which the seamen
are citizens or subjects.
4. Section 13 does not require that able seamen on foreign vessels
shall be furnished with certificates as such. The section, however,
does provide that a Collector of Customs may, upon his own motion,
and shall, upon the sworn information of any reputable citizen of
the United States, setting forth that this section is not being
complied with, cause a muster of the crew of any vessel to be made
to determine the fact; and no clearance shall be given to any vessel
failing to comply with the provisions of this section.
Accordingly, it may facilitate the despatch of foreign vessels from
American ports, if the necessary proportion of the deck crews are so
certificated, thus preventing the delay necessary to ascertain by
inquiry and examination whether in fact the necessary number of the
deck crew are able seamen within the intent of the section.
5. Certificates issued to able seamen by competent authorities of the
countries of which the seamen are citizens or subjects will be
accepted by Collectors of Customs as evidence that the able seamen
so certificated comply with the requirements of Section 13 of the
Seamen’s Act. These certificates should certify that the able seaman
is of the prescribed age, has had the prescribed sea service, and
has passed the examination as to eyesight, hearing, and physical
condition, and, for the special class of short-term service men, has
also passed the examination as to knowledge of the duties of
seamanship.
6. This circular does not apply to able seamen on foreign vessels on
the Great Lakes, who will be covered by another circular to be
issued before the opening of navigation on the Great Lakes in the
spring.
