page_title: United States Merchant Marine
section_title: The Seamen's Act of 1915
hierarchical_section_title: United States Merchant Marine / Important laws / The Seamen's Act of 1915
context_page_description: The United States Merchant Marine refers to either United States civilian mariners, or to U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, and engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine primarily transports cargo and passengers during peacetime; in times of war, the Merchant Marine can be an auxiliary to the United States Navy, and can be called upon to deliver military personnel and materiel for the military. Merchant Marine officers may also be commissioned as military officers by the Department of Defense. This is commonly achieved by commissioning unlimited tonnage Merchant Marine officers as Strategic Sealift Officers in the United States Navy Reserve.
  Merchant mariners move cargo and passengers between nations and within the United States, and operate and maintain deep-sea merchant ships, tugboats, towboats, ferries, dredges, excursion vessels, charter boats and other waterborne craft on the oceans, the Great Lakes, rivers, canals, harbors, and other waterways.
context_section_description: The Seaman's Act significantly improved working conditions for American Merchant Marine seamen. The brainchild of International Seamen's Union president Andrew Furuseth, the Act was sponsored in the Senate by Robert M. La Follette and received significant support from Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson.
  Among other things, the Act:
  abolished the practice of imprisonment for seamen who deserted their ship;
  reduced the penalties for disobedience;
  regulated working hours both at sea and in port;
  established minimum food quality standards;
  regulated the payment of wages;
  required specific levels of safety, particularly the provision of lifeboats;
  required a minimum percentage of the seamen aboard a vessel to be qualified able seamen; and
  required a minimum of 75% of the seamen aboard a vessel to understand the language spoken by the officers.
  The Act's passage was attributed to labor union lobbying, increased labor tensions immediately before World War I, and elevated public consciousness of safety at sea due to the sinking of the RMS Titanic three years prior.
caption: Senator La Follette (center), with maritime labor leader Andrew Furuseth (left) and muckraker Lincoln Steffens, circa 1915.
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