Excerpt from The Seamen's Bill: Hearings Held Before the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries on House Bill 11372; Thursday, December 14, 1911 Sec. 4516. In case of desertion or casualty resulting in the loss of one or more of the seamen, the master must ship, if obtainable, a number equal to the number of those whose services he has been deprived of by desertion or casualty, Who must be of the same grade or rating and equally expert with those whose places they refill. And in all merchant vessels of the United States the sailors shall, while at sea, be divided into two and the firemen into three watches, which shall be kept on deck duty alternately for the performance of ordinary work incident to the sailing and management of the vessel; but this provision shall not limit either the authority of the master or other oflicer or the obedience of the seamen when, in the judgment of the master or other officer, the whole crew is needed for the maneuvering of the vessel or the performance of work necessary for the safety of the vessel or her cargo. While the vessel is in a safe harbor no seaman shall be required to do any unnecessary work on Sun days or legal holidays; and at all other times while the vessel is in a safe harbor nine hours, inclusive of anchor watch, shall constitute a day's work. Whenever the master of any vessel shall fail to comply with this section the seamen shall be entitled to discharge from such vessel and shall, upon de mand, receive wages then earned. But this section shall not apply to fishing or whaling vessels or yachts. Sec. 2. That section forty-dve hundred and twenty-nine of the Revised Stat utes of the United States be, and is hereby, amended to read as follows. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.