Section 4511 shall not apply to masters of vessels where the seamen are by custom or agreement entitled to participate in the profits or result of a cruise or voyage, nor to masters of coastwise nor to masters of lake-going vessels that touch at foreign ports; but seamen may, by agreement, serve on board such vessels a definite time, or, on the return of any vessel to a port in the United States, may reship and sail in the same vessel on another voyage, without the payment of additional fees to the shipping-commissioner.
[NOTE.—Sec. 4511, however, does apply in part to masters of coastwise vessels whose crews are shipped under provisions of the act of Feb. 18, 1895.] (R. S., 4513; Feb. 18, 1895; June 19, 1886.)
The master shall, at the commencement of every voyage or engagement, cause a legible copy of the agreement, omitting signatures, to be placed or posted up in such part of the vessel as to be accessible to the crew; and on default shall be liable to a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars. (R. S., 4519.)
A master of a vessel in the foreign trade may engage a seaman at any port in the United States, in the manner provided by law, to serve on a voyage to any port, or for the round trip from and to the port of departure, or for a definite time, whatever the destination. The master of a vessel making regular and stated trips between the United States and a foreign country may engage a seaman for one or more round trips, or for a definite time, or on the return of said vessel to the United States may reship such seamen for another voyage in the same vessel, in the manner provided by law, without the payment of additional fees to any officer for such reshipment or re-engagement. (June 26, 1884; sec. 19.)
If any person shall be carried to sea, as one of the crew on board of any vessel making a voyage as hereinbefore specified, without entering into an agreement with the master of such vessel, in the form and manner, and at the place and times in such cases required, the vessel shall be held liable for each such offense to a penalty of not more than two hundred dollars. But the vessel shall not be held liable for any person carried to sea, who shall have secretly stowed away himself without the knowledge of the master, mate, or of any of the officers of the vessel, or who shall have falsely personated himself to the master, mate, or officers of the vessel, for the purpose of being carried to sea. (R. S., 4514.)