The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-07-31
REASON SEANEN DESERT
HOW JACK CAN APPEAL AGAINST
ILL TREATMENT.
Captains of Ships Under Penalty to
Report Desertions of Their Men.
Ships Sometimes Desert Crew.

There have been numerous and
wholesale desertions of seamen from
vessels lying in port during the last
month. That is to say a great many
sailors have tried to desert, They have
left the ships they came here on and
have gone to others But it is hard for
a sailor to desert service in this port.
If he claims to have been brutally or
unlawfully treated and for that reason
wants to leave his ship, his remedy is
| by appeal to the consul of his country.
But Jack, whatever his motives for
wanting to quit are, usually tries the
desertion method trusting to luck to
get away on another vessel before he is
found by the police, or to keep in hid
ing until after his own vessel leaves.
Desertion, however, usually means only
few days in the police station and
then shipping or being shipped on some
other vessel. Few deserters nowadays
are able to so thoroughly desert as to
enable them to establish themselves in
the Islands in other employments.
| The Hawaiian law deals explicitly
with desertions. The commanding Off
Ger must report all desertions from his
| ship within forty-eight hours under a
penalty of fine not exceeding $780, The
| report is made in the form of a request
to the chief of police to apprehend the
deserter and keep him in custody until
|
caught is locked up as an ordinary
| criminal and is so dealt with so long as
| he is in the hands of the local author
! tiles He can appeal to his consul but he
| finds in every case that the only alter
native he has, unless he can prove un-
lawful treatment, is to return to his
ship.
1t sometimes turns out that the deser-
tion is on the part of the ship and not
| the sailor. An unscrupulous master car
make good saving by casting out his
crew unpaid and taking new mer
aboard who will likely suffer similar
treatment in the next port. Our law
which compels the masters to report de.
sertions is therefore to the seaman's ad
vantage in this respect. The law alsC
imposes a penalty in case the master
refuses to take back a deserter from hl!
vessel. This again is for the sailors
protection. Beating him out of his pay
is thus made more difficult.
Large numbers of desertions are from
one ship to another No questions arr
asked of the sailor when he applies fu
work on a vessel. He is not asked {,
produce a discharge nor is he requirat
to name the last vessel he worked on
This is invariably the rule and of cours
makes it easy for seamen to deser
| from one vessel to another.
When in port seamen are generally a,
lowed to go ashore at any time Whel
not on duty. but should one be absen
from the ship for a stretch of forty
eight hours, he in law becomes deser
ter and must suffer all the penalties
The cost of apprehending deserters
which rangers from IS up, is paid by tn
deserter himself, being taken out os hi
wages.
, The law is plain. Jack must not de
sert his vessel. He must serve the Gul
time he has contracted for. His onl
source of relief from cruel treatmen
aboard ship is appeal to the consul O
his country if in foreign port and
in port of his own nation. to the ordi
nary authorities.