The ship's articles (shipping articles, more formally the ship's articles of agreement) is the set of documents that constitute the contract between the seafarer and the captain (master) of a vessel.[1][2] They specify the name of the ship, the conditions of employment (including the size and ratings of the intended complement), seafarer's compensation (shares or payments), the nature of the voyage(s) and duration,[3] and the regulations to be observed aboard ship and in port, including punishable offenses and punishments.[4][5][6][7] Traditionally, each seafarer is required to sign the articles, and the articles include for each seafarer, their rating, the place and the day of signing on and the place and the date of signing off of the ship.[8][9]

History

Ships' articles developed as part of the Law Merchant (Lex mercatoria). Early trading vessels were often cooperative efforts where the crew, or some members, contributed to the initial costs of ship, cargo and operations; and payment was in shares at the end of the voyage. Thus all members of a crew were considered participants in the enterprise, even if they only contributed labour.[10] This became widely recognized under the legal concept of a "community of joint hands" (Gesamthand in German, comunidad in mano in Spanish).

Early ship's articles were not written, as few were literate.[5] But by the eighteenth century most sailors expected the articles to be written, even if they themselves could not read. Finally in the 1800s legislation in many countries required that ships' articles be written down, and freely available to any ensigned sailor.[5][11]

Privateers and pirates

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the ship's articles of privateers and pirates evolved into an authority independent of the laws of any nation. Although there was no uniformity among such articles, there were common themes that came to be known as "the pirates' code" or "Jamaica discipline".[12]

Compensation

In addition to monetary payments, seafarers on ships traditionally received housing (berth), board (food and provisions), medical care (ship's doctor),[13] and sometimes things like laundry services or an alcohol allowance. This as often expressed in the ship's articles as so much "a month and found".[14][15]

Usage

Ship’s articles are considered part of a "ship's papers", which constitute the legal environment aboard ship.[7] They are required in resolving disputes between seafarers and their captains, as well as between seafarers and the ship's and cargo's owners.[6][7] They are presented to port authorities and foreign consular officials to establish the bona fides of a ship.[7]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Glossary of terms: Articles". International Transport Workers' Federation. Archived from the original on 6 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "ship's articles". Collins English Dictionary.
  3. ↑ In interpreting the Act, the words "nature of the voyage" must have such a rational construction as to answer the main and leading purpose for which they were framed, namely, to give the mariner a fair intimation of the nature of the service in which he was about to engage himself, when he signed the ship's articles. Boyd 1876, p. 128
  4. ↑ Boyd, Alexander Charles (1876). The Merchant Shipping Laws: Being a Consolidation of All the Merchant Shipping and Passenger Acts from 1854 to 1876. London: Stevens & Sons. p. 128–129. OCLC 221071554.
  5. 1 2 3 MacLachian, David (1875). A Treatise on the Law of Merchant Shipping (second ed.). London: W. Maxwell & Son. pp. 203–206.
  6. 1 2 Berger, Martin; Helmers, Walter; Terheyden, Karl, eds. (2013). "Schiffahrisrecht: Papiere aller Art Gesetze und Bücher: Besatzungspapiere: Musterrolle". Schiffahrtsrecht, Seemannschaft, Ladung, Stabilität, Schiffbaukunde, Schiffsmaschinenkunde, Chemie für Nautiker, Signal- und Funkwesen, Gesundheitspflege und andere Gebiete. Volume 2 of Handbuch für die Schiffsführung (in German) (seventh ed.). Berlin: Springer Verlag. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-3-662-00042-7.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "[Letter] Mr. Adee to Mr. Conger". Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 6, 1897. Office of the Historian, United States Department of State. 3 December 1897.
  8. ↑ "Chapter 05 Ship's articles and the seafarer's book". Manning Order Merchant Shipping and Sailing. Archived from the original on 2 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Prechtel-Kluskens, Claire (2007). "Twentieth-century vessel crew lists" (PDF). NCS NewsMagazine. Office of the Chief of Staff of the National Archives and Records Administration. pp. 35–38. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 September 2018.
  10. ↑ Hayes, Peter (2008). "Pirates, Privateers and the Contract Theories of Hobbes and Locke". History of Political Thought. 29 (3): 461–484.
  11. ↑ Cooper, Alastair (2012). "Perceptions and Attitudes of Seafarers Towards Maritime Regulations: An Historical Perspective". In Chircop, Aldo; et al. (eds.). The Regulation of International Shipping: International and Comparative Perspectives. Leiden: Brill. pp. 427–442. doi:10.1163/9789004202443_021. ISBN 978-90-04-20244-3.
  12. ↑ Dear, Ian C. B.; Kemp, Peter, eds. (2005). "Jamaica discipline". The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. Oxford Reference Collection (second ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860616-1.
  13. ↑ Further, the issue of failure to treat is one peculiar to the crew members, bound by ship's articles and their dangerous work at sea to seek from their superiors prompt relief from duty and proper medical attention, hospitalization and nursing care. Klonsky, Robert (1952). "The Uncharted Course of Maritime Law". NACCA Law Journal. National Association of Claimants' Compensation Attorneys: 145–150.
  14. ↑ A sailor comes aft to take mate's place, cabin-boy goes for'ard to take sailor's place, and you take the cabin-boy's place, sign the articles for the cruise, twenty dollars per month and found. London, Jack (1904). "Chapter 3". The Sea Wolf. New York: Macmillan. available at The Sea Wolf, Chapter 3
  15. ↑ Kimsey, William E.; et al. (1952). "$45 a Month and "Found"". 50 Years of Progress (PDF). Bureau of Labor, State of Oregon. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2015.
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