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972
XII. SHIPPING AND NAVIGATION OF SWEDEN.
The Sailors.
Our sailors’ occupation and the conditions under which it is carried on in
many respects deviating from those of other trades, there exist regarding them
certain special arrangements and regulations which should here be mentioned in
short.
Various detailed provisos considering the relation of sailors to their Hasten
are given in the maritime law of 1891. The captain has to engage and to
dismiss the crew. At his being shipped, the sailor gets a balance-book, where the
agreement is entered in full. Besides, he is to present himself in person to
the muster-master, before whom all the documents regarding the compact are
to be laid out and the agreement accepted. He who duly has engaged to go
into service at a stated time and fails to do so, can be sent for through the
police.
If a seaman is shipped for a certain time, and this expires during the
voyage, he must go with the vessel to the nearest wharf. Is he engaged for an
unlimited period, he has to stop in the service till the ship arrives at the place
of engagement or, if he was shipped in Sweden, till the vessel comes to another
Swedish harbour. If the plan of voyage be altered before departure from the
place of engagement, dismissal can be insisted upon at once, else only under
certain circumstances. Has the sailor been in service for two years, he can — in
case the vessel be not going straight to such a place where he can get his
dismissal in accordance with the contract — without regard to the contents of the
compact claim his dismissal at the first place the ship calls at for loading or
unloading. But even before that, he can demand his discharge against
substituting another able man, if he proves that he can get the command of a ship or
any higher employment on board a vessel. Besides, he is entitled to demand his
discharge in case war renders the voyage dangerous, if the ship be not sea-worthy
and its defect be not repaired, if the vessel cease to be a Swedish one, or if be
be somehow or other ill-treated on board.
The sailor has a right to medical attendance, to free passage home in certain
cases, and to security in the ship and freight in case of wages or other
compensation not being duly paid.
The wages must be paid even in certain cases of dismissal, or when the
service ceases from other reasons; they are to be paid even if the voyage be
shortened, and, on the other hand, an additional sum is to be given if the voyage be
lengthened above the distance bespoken in the original contract; for extra work
special remuneration is expected. The pay falls due at stated times; the captain’s
balance can, when demanded, be tried by the muster-master.
The captain is entitled to dismiss a sailor who for a certain length of time
will be unfit for the service or who suffers from venereal disease. An
incompetent sailor or one who conducts himself in a certain stated manner, may be
dismissed at any time, and the pay for the period of service still remaining may be
reduced to half the amount. For damage he is responsible; breach of duty may
be punished with reducement of wages. If half the pay has already been
withheld as a punishment, the culprit can be sentenced to arrest of up to 48 hours.
Complaints of punishment can be made to the muster-master at the paying-off,
as also within a year before the court. For desertion and for breach of duty,
penal consequences are ordained.
About the amount of the pay (shipping) which under various circumstances
is due to the captain and the crew, nothing is stipulated by law but depends on
free agreement between the ship-owner, the captain, and the crew, whereas, on the
other hand, the eating regulations for sailors on board Swedish merchant ships
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