Fabian Tract No. 46. 



SOCIALISM AND SAILORS. 


HY 

BENJAMIN T. HALL, 

Secretary to tlze Club and Instdute Um"ou, and lrrte Asszsta1lt 
Secretary to tlze ~Vatz"o~trrl Seamen's and Pl.'remen's Cw"oll. 

PuBLISHED BY 

THE FABIAN SOCIETY. 

PRICE ONE PENNY. 

LONDO. : 
To HE OBTAr~Eo oF THE FAB!A:--1 SociETY, -:c76 STI~A:-;n, \V.C. 
SEPTF.\lllEH, I ~93· 



SOCIALISM AND SAILORS. 

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THE sa is--;fot much of a politician, and politics have little 
interest for him. Yet that inherent cussedness, which-making it 
an abounding delight to disagree with one's neighbor-is the incen-
tive to political discussion, a sailor possesses to a degree hardlyexcelled by Socialists in conference. 
The excited disputation of immaterial differences, the soothing 
and certain faith in the iniquity or imbecility of your opponents~ 
and the mala-fides and self-seeking of your friends, the yet pleasanter 
habit of giving these faiths utterance : on land, these afford an un-
doubted opening for a man of vigorous expression, of suspicious 
temperament, and with no particular ideas. At sea it is different-
There with the character of his last ship, the quality of the grub, 
the incapacity of his mates, the genial temper of the captain, and the 
infamous villainy of the cook, each calling for his picturesque and 
freely delivered opinions, small wonder is it that the mariner gives 
scant attention to matters of a more trivial character. 
. The Disestablishment of the English or other Church, Home 
Rule for Ireland or elsewhere, Reform of the Registration Laws : what 
are these things to him compared with the debated accuracy of the 
steward's scales? And apart from mere political reforms, what of 
interest is there to him in popular social legislation, begun or sug-
gested? There are three great parties in the State, the Tory Party,
the Liberal Party, and the Fabian Society. I do not know that the 
first of these has any programme ; but if a sailor scan the gospel as 
delivered at Newcastle, he will see nothing that will mitigate the 
evils which surround hz'm/ and he will find as little in the "Workers' 
Political Programme" of the Fabians, the possibility of the Nation-
alization of Shipping being still too remote for mention. A Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer ziz posse, unfolding his budget in the 
untrammelled pages of a Review, has no more cheering messagefor him than the tall bully z'n esse. The Socialist, unlimited by 
actualities, offers as little as the timid Liberal with a deficit-in soul 
and in exchequer. The anxieties which wait upon those who puttheir faith in Governments vex him not ; and he cares nothingwhich influence is paramount in the see-saw in the Cabinet. For it 
does not at all matter. 
This apathy, exasperating as it is in others, is reasonable enoughin the seaman. He is di\'orced in interest from his fellows on 
land ; and in considering the relationship of Socialism to him, it is 
necessary to understand how absolutely unique is his position, how 
out of harmony with the Socialist idea are all the habits and con-

3 

ditions of his life, and yet how, of all men, he is dependent for 
happiness upon the good-will of the State. 

Here on shore the subordination of personal interests, or groupsof interests, to those of the whole, and, collaterally, the cultivation of 
a sense of individual responsibility not to be avoided or de1egated to 
others, are growing. They do not grow, it is true, with the speed of 
Max Adeler's century plant; but nevertheless they grow. They growbecause the influence of the new ideas upon politics can even now be 
m asured in happiness. Socialism depends for success, not upon its 
sweet reasonableness alone, the ardour or the eccentricity of its 
prophets, but largely upon the visible results of its application.
Given the realization of the "Londo11 Programme " and its corollaries, 
and arguments for Socialism would arise in the daily life of all. 

For all, indeed, save the Sailor ! 

On the shore, too, men are unconsciously drawn into a share in 
the common life by the widening influence of the public press. The 
newspaper, with its daily record of the lives of others, widens the 
constituency of thought, and clips the abounding sense of self-
importance. Without the newspaper, a living Socialism or Democracy 
would be impossible. But a seaman is outside its influence 
and blind to the wider life it opens up. A working sailor is not a 
member of the community in the actual at all. He does not live in 
it, or under similar conditions, and he can do nothing, by takingthought, for its welfare. 

His sense of a community is limited by the size of the foc'sle, and 
is only extended when he goes to sea in a larger vessel. 

Nominally a citizen of a Democratic State, he spends his life 
amongst small and ever-changing groups of his fellows, governed absolutely 
and despotically, with no demand upon his thoughts or 
abilities in leisure hours. There is neither need nor opportunity for 
common action on board ship, save in the temporary necessities of 
danger ; but not then is there call for thought or for sense of responsibility. 
Blind, unreasoning, unqualified obedience is his ideal, held 
up to him by law, and rendered easy of achie,·ement by the alternative 
of Irons and the Gaol. 

In a case heard some two years ago in Glasgow, Sheriff Lees 
declared that the Merchant Shipping Act gave to the captain power 
to cause every man to work for twenty-four hours per day during the 
whole of the voyage. A more recent illustration lies in the story of 
the "Port Glasgow." The captain of this ship being hopelessly and 
continuously drunk, rushing from his cabin at delirious intervals to 
issue imbecile orders, the crew took advantage of a semi-sober hour 
to present to him a respectfully-worded and peaceful requisition. It 
asked that he would allow the chief mate to have sole control of the 
ship until she reached Sydney. \Vhen that port was reached, this 
formed the basis of a charge of insubordination. The drunkenne~s 
of the master was testified to by every man, including the officers on 
board, and was even admitted by himself. No other offence but tb~ 
requisition wa alleged, yet every member of that crew was sent to 
gaol for four \\'eeb' har4labor. 


This i the apotheosis of law and order; and it is not quite as unreasonable 
a it looks. But it is not the kind of ground upon which 
Socialism readily takes root, and it produces its inevitable reaction 
in riot aJ)d disorder during the moments of freedom on shore. 

It is practically impossible to bring to bear upon the mariner 
those circum tances which tend to make us "all Socialist now." 
The formation of a National Trade Union of Seamen has done 
something in the right direction, but eyen now it is doubtful if 
so socialistic an institution will survi\'e the anarchic instincts of its 
members. Depriyed of opportunity for personal bservation, they are 
naturally suspicious and distrustful, a prey to eyery lie and leprous 
suggestion, a weakness exploited to the full by the prostitutes of 
journalism. Each branch of the Union has a tendency to goyern 
itself by the light of its own immediate ideas, without regard for the 
great r organism. The component parts of " a branch meeting " are 
different on each occa ion ; and each meeting works its own sweet 
will, caring little for rules, for the previou week' deci ion, or for any 
l:mdlubberly theory of continuity. There is a brief and paradoxical 
re,·ersion to common action only when chaos comes and they 
hurriedly combine with touching unanimity to cast the responsibility 
upon the boulders of the General Secretary. The branch secretaries 
alone, liYing on shore, form the connecting links of the chain of 
organization, as i ted by the steadying influence of one or t\I"O 
ex-ailors, domiciled long enough on hare to catch its pirit. To 
these maritime Unionists, the trike naturally enough seemed at 
fir t the only weapon. They now begin slowly to see that the chief 
bu·ines of a Sailors' Union is public agitation, the placing before the 

bore-working community the picture of a sailor's life. 

This community can, if it choose, do much for him. Ought it to 
do this, or to let him go to the devil? Up till recently, it has let 
him go, and complacently watched his going. He is without friends, 
for he lacks the current coin which buy them. A merciful Pro,·idence 
having sent u · politicians, there is no industrial damsel in 
eli tres but some Yaliant knight will be found to succor her, asking 
only in return the pricele s guerdon of the yote. Lofty ideals, chiYalrous 
zeal, noble and inspiring sentiment lead the reluctant feet of 
statesmen to Home Rule, Miners' Eight Hours, and what not. But 
chi val rom sentiment· are pearb not to be quandered on Yotcless 
pariahs ; and the sailor is left-in confident piety-to the care of 
"the sweet little cherub who sits up aloft." So we haYe measures 
pa'ised to protect the food of the shore-working Yoter, who can inspect 
hi; own, and clvlo·e what and where he shall buy, but no inspection 
for seamen who haYe no option or choice whateYer. \Ve in ist upon 
:,oo cubic feet of :1ir for the land ·man, even the criminal ; whil t 72 
i~ specified for the mariner. \Ve secure rights to compensation for 
the man on shore "·ho may meet with accident bv reason of a foolish 
meier which he need not ha\"e obey d ; and we deny it to the eaman 
wh0 cannot and clare not exercise his opinion. Sacreclnes of contract 
is g<hpcl on the shore ; whilst a ailor may haYe a contract broken 
without his consent in half a dozen ways. \Ve talk of reduction of 


hours by legislation for almost every kind of workman who need not 
work excessive hours against his will ; but we hear no talk of it for 
the sailor, who must work as many hours as he is ordered. 

These inequalities do not altogether escape the eyes of Jack. If 
he cannot be made to feel himself a member of the community, 
he cannot escape, during his brief furlough on shore, some sense of 
it as it exists in others, and some glimpse of its operation. Then the 
utter imbecility of attempting to earn a living upon the sea dawns 
upon him ; and he leaves it for work on shore. This process is daily 
going on. British sailors, insensibly affected by the rising standard 
of life, are leaving the Mercantile Marine, their places being taken bythe Continental, the African, and the Asiatic, with their lower standards. 
During the last four years (1888-92), the proportion of Continental 
seamen has increased 12 per cent., whilst the proportion of 
coolies, Zanzibar "boys," Lascars, and Chinamen has increased 38 per 
cent., exclusive of officers. Certainly one-third, if not more, of what 
is known as the British Mercantile Marine is Continental or Asiatic. 

This is to be regretted for ethnological and other reasons. We 
cannot stay the exodus ; but we may stem it. If we cannot make 
our sailor an ideal citizen, we can at least make his life as safe and as 
comfortable as is humanly possible-can give him at least theoretically 
legal equality with other workmen. 

Theoretical equality only, because, from the very nature of things,
he can never be equal. Law, to be applied upon individual initiative 
in the Courts, is practically non-existent for him. 

A docker working upon the quay gets his finger crushed by some 
blunder of the foreman. Failing to get compensation, he sets the 
law in motion, and whilst that law delays, proceeds to such work as 
he can do. When the case comes on for hearing, he requests or 
subpcenas the attendance of his witnesses. The day's attendance of 
these and the solicitor's bill are the only expenses involved. Even 
this is held by many to be practically prohibitive. But how different 
is the sailor's position ! He, unlike the docker, has no legal title 
to compensation. We will suppose, however, that he has. He 
moves the Courts. The ship sails, with it some of his witnesses, 
whilst the remainder scatter to the four ends of the earth. He must 
wait until the ship returns (an adjournment being always granted 
on the ground of the absence of material evidence), and if he has got 
any witnesses, which is unlikely, he must maintain them until the 
case is heard. What sailor can do this? The public opinion which 
hangs over the actions of employers on shore extends no assistance to 
him. The fear of this-the letter to the newspaper, the visit of the 
imaginative reporter, the sympathetic editorial leader, and the remonstrances, 
may be, of humane friends-all these operate to 
prevent the need for litigation arising on the part of the shore 
worker. But on board ship there is nothing to modify the license of 
a brutal captain or a callous owner. Litigation, where permitted 
him, is the seaman's only hope, a hope as barreri of satisfaction as the 
thirst of Tantalus. A recent and typical illustration of the law in 
operation, swelling the record of cash spent in legal expenses by the 


Seamen's Union, and affording much opportunity for indignation in 
the breasts of compassionate shipowners, is the case of Alexander 
Feros. This man was left on shore at Constantinople, whither he 
had gone with the captain to see a doctor. He was taken in charge 
by the Union's repres~ntative in that port, maintained for awhile, 
and finally sent at the Union's expense to England, where an action 
was at once entered against the owners. The action was pending 
some four months, during which time Feros was maintained in food, 
lodgings, and clothes by the Union. \'Vitnesses had to be discovered 
and taken from ships in which they were then sailing, and also detained 
at 30/-per week on shore. Counsel were engaged, and the 
case eventually heard in Liverpool. It resulted in Feros' favor. The 
wages sued for (£3 12s. 6d.) were recovered, and 011e da_y's costs. This 
case cost the Union nearly £8o. It was obviously the duty of the 
Union to see its member righted; but not a farthing was spent more 
than the ultimate success demanded. Practically the whole of the expense 
was occasioned by the special circumstances of a sailor's employment, 
and would not have been incurred in a similar case on shore. • 

One does not quite see how the inequality is to be adequately 
balanced, and it will probably remain one of the permanent attractions 
of a sailor's life. It can be adju ted omewhat by throwing upon the 
Board of Trade the onus of prosecution rather than leaving it to the 
sailor. Such restrictions as the Merchant Shipping Act at present 
impo e upon the cupidity of owners are mainly operative upon the 
seaman's initiative ; and he is deterred by liability to deductions 
from his wages if he doe not make out his case. This handicapping, 
assi ted by the rigorous discipline of the ship, brought to bear upon a 
man to whom collective and sustained action is absolutely novel, 
makes the law a dead letter. Thus a sailor may claim damage from 
an owner for the supply of impure water. Water is frequently supplied 
to seamen which is nothing but ewage, productive of dysentery, 
diarrhrea, and kindred diseases. It is often condemned as unfit 
for drinking by the medical officer of a port. Here is a sample : 
" On Monday your inspector inspected the water supply on board the 
s.~. ' Saler!lo.' The water was suspicious in appearance, and some of 
th~ crew had suffered from diarrhrea on the ,·c:iyage. He submitted 
a ample to the Port _-\nalyst for report. 

Total Solid :\latter ... 15'75 
Chlorine 1'24 
Equ:tls Common Salt 2 '04 
Free Ammonia '0028 
.\lbumenoid .-\mmonia ·oro5 
Oxygen absorbed in four hours '1094 
Nitrates none 
Phosphoric Acid Very many traces. 

Remarks :-This water is dirty and swarms with living organisms, 
many visible to the naked eye. It is not good drinking water.''t 

-

* In spite of these difficulties, the Union last year recovered £2551 by legal 
proceedings for its members. 
t Report, :\1edical Officer of Health, rSgr-r8g2, Hull and Coole Port SanitaryAuthority, pp. ro-r r. 


.,
I 

I have suggested to Mr. Havelock vVilson, M.P., that he call for 
a return of all seamen reported sick or dead of diarrhcra or dysentery 
in any one year ; I am convinced some startling figures will result. 
It is perfectly easy to keep a continuous supply of good water ; and 
it is an illustration of the neglect of the seaman by the State, that 
this should be a grie,·ance of the present day. But an action for 
compensation by a seaman has never been known. 

Take an e\·en more serious matter : In I 876 an Act came into 
operation giying power to the Board of Trade to detain Yessels complained 
of as unseaworthy. Up to ] une, I 892, no less than qr 7 
were thus reported ; and of these all saYe 23 were condemned as un~
afe. Of these 1392 unsea\\·orthy ships, only 79 were reported by the 
crew ! On the remaining 1313 the men were prepared to go to sea 
11·ith heayy odds on death, without murmur or complaint. It is important 
that this should be remembered, because we shall be told that 
State interference will sap the manhood and sturdy independence of 
the British Tar. And we shall be told, too, in the same breath, that 
Jack is insubordinate and complaining. Surely no Lascar could be 
more submi siye ! The truth lies the other way. The want of State 
inten·ention has destroyed healthy individuality in the sailor ; and 
!>aYe when actually in the presence of death, he bows as silently and 
as faithfully to Kismet as the Asiatic. 

The difficulty of securing his rights for him, howeyer, is no reason 
for depriYing him of them ; and he claims, fir t and aboYe ali, the 
right to compensation for injury arising from the neglect or incompetence 
of his superior, whose orders he is bound to obey. 

The doctrine of common employment as between fellow-workmen 
has aroused strong resentment on the sl1ore. On the sea it is 
applied not alone to fellow-\\·orkmen, but to all. That is, the captain 
is regarded as the fellow-workman of the cabin-boy, and again t his 
blunders or incompetence no remedy exists. \Vhy 2oo,ooo workmen 
::,hould be ear-marked and set on one side when the Dotheboys 
Chamber ~ends around its spoonful of justice, is inexplicable on a1iy 
other ground than their want of YOting power. They are the Smikes 
of politic , the despised and rejected of politicians ; and I ubmit 
that Socialism should take these helpless outca::-b under its wing. 
In so far, howeYer, a this particular injustice is concerned, there is 
immediate prospect of remedy. There is a little paper, the organ of 
Trade Unionism in • ..\.ustralia, called the Austrnhrm Hrn-kmnll, 
from the perusal of which you rise always with the knowledge of 
::,ome fact of which you were hitherto ignorant. Thus somewhere in 
June, 1802, I read that" Mr. Sidney \Vebb, a prominent official of 
the English Seamen's Union, lu been elected a member of the 
the London County Council for Deptford." hortly after the 
General Election I read that "Mr. Asquith, a prominent member of 
the Fabian Society,·has been appointed to the post of Home Secretary 
in the Liberal GoYernment." Sorrow and delight were inextricably 
confounded in my mind. Sorrow that a Sociali t should 
. ink so low as to become a· member of a Liberal Cabinet; delight in 
the knowledge that it would be his duty to draft a New Employers' 


Liability Bill, and the certainty that a Fabian could not consent to 

the exclusion of seamen. My hopes were justified. 

Mr. Asquith may not be a Fabian ; but no man can deny his 
n lue to the ailor ; for the Employers' Liability Bill, as drafted by 
him, and as it will pass, includes in its definition of workman, " Every 
person employed upon every British ship." Let us indulge our 
gratitude to M r. Asquith with one eye on the fact that his action 
synchronises with the first advent of a working ailor upon the floor 
of the "House." This instalment of justice will of course "deal an 
irreparable blow at an already crippled industry" ; but it i in the 
continuance of this eYil course that the bringing home of Socialism 
to the sailor lies. If he cannot be got to share the Socialist's view5 
and work, we can none the less impose upon him the material conditions 
which the Socialist considers human. vVhat he wants is 
safety for life and limb, good food and plenty, sanitary apartments, 
a reasonable day's work, a voice in his own affairs whenever possible, 
fair play for wife and child, and all the possible opportunities for moral 
development in his leisure. He wants grandmotherly Government ; 
and he ought to get it. Let me indicate one or two ways in which 
that may be applied. Any one of them will " paralyse trade," and 
" drive every hipowner to place his ship under a foreign flag." 
But if consolation is needed in the hour of these impending trials, it 
can be remembered that trade has been paralysed before, and has 
incontinently swelled in volume thereby, and that the threat of transference, 
if uttered in haste, is carried out in reassuring leisure. 

The first consideration in order and in importance i the preservation 
of the ailor's life. Sailors are very cheap. A sympathetic 
Durham jury, ignorant of the law-as was the Recorder-awarded a 
widow £175 (of which she was promptly deprived on appeal) for the 
los of her husband. H e was an able seaman. Ordinary eamen are 
cheaper than that. Fabian sympathy, however, is unbounded ; and 
we may take it that the saving of even these cheap lives is desirable. 

Synonymous with saving of life is increase of leisure. A ship 
is unseaworthy when she is in the hands of men who are wearied 
with over-labor ;· and collisions sometime result from an exhausted 
and sleepy watch. In times of storm and danger, the crew is frequently 
insufficient to perform the work upon which the safety of 
the ship depends. The Board of Trade returns of missing ships are 
eloquent of this. Thus the " Lansdowne" sailed on the 12th October, 
1890, ne\·cr to be heard of again. She was of 1486 tons, a11d she 
carried 14 hands. According to a scale drawn by Captain Hatfield, 
she should have carried 2~ hands (nearly double the actual cre11· 
carried). This gentleman is a shipowner, and should be an authority: 

As far as can be fixed-that is, for a normal day on board-swfficient 
men should be carried to guarantee an eig ht hours day for sailors. A 
six hours day should be enough for firemen. These, or such other 
hours as may be thought desirable, can be secured by a manning


.* " l find that in less than seven years, Captain Hatfield has owned t\1 eh·e ships. 
and tn the course of that time has lost ele1·en of them." (:\lr. J. Chamberlain, House 
or Commons, May rgth, r88+.) 


q 

gcale which will allot to ships of certain tonnage and build a fixed 
number of hands of all capacities, Able Seamen, Ordinary Seamen, 
Firemen, and Trimmers ; and this scale should be made minimum 
and compulsory

A necessary corollary to this is a Rating Bill, establishing certificates 
of competency. The Payment of Wages and Rating Act of 
188o provides already that no man shall be entitled to the Ratingof A.B. unless he has seen four years' sea service. But as there is 
no power to enforce this, it remains an inoperative Act, a piou 
opinion only. A man who has never seen a row-boat may ship a;, 

A.B. nominally, at the A.B.'s rate of wages. When out at sea, the 
master can disrate him for incompetence, and reduce his wages to 
what he pleases. There is, too, nothing to compel owners to ship 
A.B.s at all. An examination this year of the articles of the 
Atlantic passenger s.s. "Assyrian "-one of a splendid line of ships 
belonging to one of the most reputable and certainly the most 
Christian of firms-showed that out of seventeen alleged A.B.s, 
fourteen were unable to give proof of such service. To interfere 
with this would "limit the choice of owners in obtaining seamen," 
says the Board of Trade, a Government Department which limits 
its own choice of clerks by a rigorous examination. Our manningscale ha\·ing fixed the number of A.B.s and firemen, we want to 
prevent a man shipping as A.B. without producing a certificate, or 
discharges showing four years' sea service ; or as a fireman without 
one year's serYice as trimmer, or similar experience on shore. The 
making of the Act of I 88o compulsory and penal will accomplish 
this. 
Last, but not least, persons engaged as cooks should be compelled 
to produce eYidence of some elementary knowledge of their important 
art. 

The employment of Lascars-physically and morally unfit as they 
are to cope with times of stress and storm-should be curtailed, 
making them a limited proportion only ofthe crew. A man working 
on shore at hazardous employment can note the incompetence of his 
mate, and have him removed, or at worst remove himself. If a man 
handled a winch or a crane dangerously, protest would be made and 
he could be discharged. Anyway, one need not wittingly work with 
him. But if a man is incompetent on board, you have got to work 
with him, or have his work added to your own. The replies of Sir 
Henry Calcraft to the Duke of Devonshire at the Labor Commission 
are worth quoting : 

"Q.-Under the present law, after a seaman had signed articles he 
would be liable to punishment if he refused to go to sea, even if he 
found that the other members of the crew were incompetent, would 
he not? 

"A.--Yes, certainly. 
"Q.-He has no right to require any proof of the competence of 
the men with whom he goes to sea? 
" A.-Exactly ! 


"Q.-If the master chooses to take the risk of employing an incom


petent man, whom he knows to be incompetent, there is nothing to 

prevent him ? 

"A.-Nothing!" 
Note that it matters only that the master, who will gain kudos 
from his employer if all comes off well, should accept the risk ; but 
the willingness of the men, who take greater risk and gain nothingbut extra work, is quite consistently not considered. For is it not 
this kind of risk that inculcates in the sailor a vigorous self-reliance, 
etc. ? Will it not be an e\·il day for the mercantile marine, if a 
meddling and debilitating Socialism deprive him of the>e excellent 
.aids to character ? 
However, having thus spoilt the seaman, robbed him of all those 
traits which are best-and most profitable-in British manhood, let 
us see what evil restrictions we, in pursuit of the same policy, can put 
upon the owner. We will turn first to those laws which make it 
penal to load a ship beyond a certain point. In this direction, one 
man has done more for his day and generation than any living politician. 
Few people have any idea of the loss of life which attends a 
sailor's calling, and the enormous reduction of it which legislation 
has made. One has heard it said and believed that, on an average,
life is as safe at sea as on land. Let me quote from Mr. Chamberlain 
(then President of the Board of Trade)-himself quoting from a 
return covering the period 1870-1882 : 
"What is the fact with regard to the whole of these I 2 years?
It is this -that in that time 36,ooo men suffere:l. violent deaths ; and 
of the whole number one in six lost his life. [An hon. MEMBEH: 
One in 66.] No; one in six of the aver::tge number employed in the 
whole twelve years, of every man, every boy, every officer, and every 
seaman, lost his life in the British Merchant Service. Go on, and 
carry that a step further. If you assume that the average working 
life of the seaman is 24 years, then you will find that one "in everythree will, in the course of his working life, perish by a violent and 
<:lreadful death." " 
'Vhat has legislation in the shape of Load Line Acts and Life 
Saving Appliance Acts already done ? Certain returns which were 
laid before the Labor Commission by Sir H. Calcraft, are summarised .. by him in the following words : 
"It will be seen that the rate of loss amongst seamen by all kinds 
of accident at sea in r881 was one in 59·96 ; in 1883, the next yearfor which the figures were prepared on the same lines as those for 
1881, which were analysed for the Royal Commission on loss of life 
.at sea (in 1882 the figures were not prepared on the same lines), it 
was r in 66; in r884 1 in 97; in r885 1 in ro6; in r886 r in 112; 
in r887 r in 99; in 1888 r in 114; in r889 I in I26. The figuresfor the last two years have not yet been made up ; but there is no 
reason to suspect that they are not equally favorable. The losses 
by wrecks and casualties alone were I in 79 in 188 I; I in 94 in I 883; 

• Speech in House of Commons, :vtay Igth, 188{. 

II 

I in 159 in 1884 i I in I65 in 1885; I in 183 in 1886 j I in 158 in 

r887; I in 208 in 1888; I in 269 in r889; I in 184 in 1890; and I 

in 2 s6 in J 89 J' so far as reported.""

A stupendous reduction which should make the name of Samuel 

Plimsolllive when the glorified hucksters of politics are forgotten! 

The fixing of a load-line was a noble work, but incomplete ; and 

Socialists should turn with eager hands to its completion. Infringe


ments of the Act dealing with overloading are punishable by fine-the 

maximum penalty being £IOo. In the majority of ports the law is 

administered by unpaid J.P.s, mostly interested in shipping. The 

fines are small and inadequate ; their average amount is but £I6, 

although sometimes the maximum is reached. The Stipendiary

Magistrate of Cardiff invariably inflicts the maximum penalty. Yet 

it has been shown in evidence before him that, after this has been 

paid, £zoo of profit has yet been made. 

There is a precedent which can be followed in this matter. When 

a sailor smuggles tobacco-as he sometimes does-and is caught, he 

is fined just double the ya)ue of the duty. Apply this to the owner, 

make the fine £roo as a minimum, rising to double the value of the 

illegitimate OYer-freight, and it will stop over-loading. 

A word as to over-insurance. When a ship is insured above her 

ya)ue, the owner practically lays a money wager against her return. 

Owners are honorable men-" all honorable men "-and doubtless 

pray for the loss of their wager, and the safety of the ship. To re


move them, howeYer, from temptation (desire for lucre sometimes 

overcoming natural piety), policies should be held to be void for any 

amount in excess of two-thirds of the value of the ship. The race of 

owners who would coin sailors' blood for drachmas is not yet extinct. 

A great shipowner and builder, Mr. Samuda, once said that there 

would be no great diminution in the loss of life at sea unless there 

was some risk to the owner ; and to that confession nothing needs 

adding. 

The Cunard owners boast, and that truthfully, that they haYe never 
lost a single life from preventible causes. What is possible for the 
Cunard is possible for all ; and to transform this great possibility into 
actuality, with its preservation of precious lives, its destruction of 
sorrow, a work the value of which is not hypothetical, but can be 
·counted year by year in living men, is surely well worth the atten


tion and energies of Socialists. 

Let us turn now to a niatter of scarcely less importance-the food. 
This has been taken in hand by the Seamen's Union with some 
success. In the last Parliament they succeeded in getting a Bill carried, 
compelling the inspection of ships' provisions. It will no longerbe possible to put rotten meat, or animals which have died, on board 
ship. In the present Parliament Mr. Havelock Wilson has obtained the 
second reading of a Bill fixing a minimum scale of food for each day.
At present a scale is written upon the face of a ship's articles, and 
when you'' sign on," you sign acceptance of this scale. You sign, 

* :MINUTES, Royal Labor Commission (C. 6795). Group B., p. 269. 

but the scale is not guaranteed. Below the scale is written or 
stamped "substitutes at the master's option." It will be obvious how 
this works out. You get what are sarcastically called "equivalents." 
This is the method of reasoning. "Half a pound of butter is equal 
in nutriment to two pounds of beef; half a pound of marmalade is 
equal to half a pound of butter; therefore half a pound of marmalade 
is equal to two pounds of beef." 

However perfect this syllogism may appear to those who believe 
a man may thrive upon much logic and a little lentils, it does not 
commend itself to the untutored sailor, who knows little of logic, and 
who clings, spite of all else, firmly in his devotion to the flesh. The 
food scale of the Seamen's Union, providing about one pound of flesh 
meat per day, if less logical, is more satisfactory. Objection may be 
taken from a shore point of view to its inflexibility. But these things 
cannot be looked at in landscape; and the sailor will continue to preferinflexibility to uncertainty in the supply of beef. The Bill, owing to 
the state of business in the Commons, has been withdrawn for the 
year ; but will doubtless become law before the next election. 

The next effort will be devoted to increasing the air space. A · 
has before been said, the amount now specified is 72 cubic feet. It is 
proposed to increase this to 1 20-about one-third of that allowed a 
murderer on shore. There is no reason why baths should not also 
be supplied, at any rate for the firemen, and a free library for the use 
of the whole of the crew. The compulsory leisure which now turns 
itself at best to fearful and wondrous exercises in carving, knitting, 
and oil painting, might be employed to train native genius on scientific 
lines. 

The sanitation of ships is in the hands of the Local Port SanitaryAuthority, controlled, in every port but London, by the local representative 
body. Here lies an opportunity for Socialist activity. L~t 
those who dwell in ports, slum, not alone in narrow streets, but 111 
narrower fo'c'sles. On ,board the ships entering our ports, as many 
men dwell as in our courts and alleys, with a hundred times less protection, 
a thousand less facilities for personal care. In Liverpool 
recently, such activity has resulted in the appointment of two 
additional sanitary inspectors for ships-a revolutionary proceeding 
which has alarmed the owners and delighted the seamen of the port. 

Paint-lockers, closets, and such like should be removed from 
contiguity with the men's sleeping apartments. A score of other 
sanitary reforms will be readily discovered "by the Socialist in search 
of them. Most people have seen how iron " sweats." I can well 
remember in early days watching the drops fall from the outside of a 
cistern, and wondering why a more impervious material than iron 
was not used. So in a ship's fo'c'sle. Many a man sleeps with 
globules of water during the whole of the night falling "like the 
gentle rain from heaven " upon the berth beneath, dropping from 
the iron sides of the ship, and from the iron deck and girders ove.rhead. 
The provision of a little match-boarding will prevent th1s, . 
although it may ruin the shipowner. A space should be providedwhere clothes could be dried. Now, a man frequently has his 72 


13 

cubic feet mainly occupied by wet clothes, drying whilst he sleeps 
and inhales the evaporating moisture. Not one of these instances 
would be tolerated on shore by the most reactionary vestry; but poor 
Jack! he has no vote-not even for a vestry. There is one Local 
Board, however, for which he would like a vote, however rare his 
opportunity of using it ; and that is the Local Board which practically 
controls the whole of the conditions of his employment. H e has his 
Parish Council already, and he wants a vote on it. One can dimly 
imagine the storm of derision and contumely which would befall a 
proposal to constitute a P arish Council upon which only landlords 
should have the right to sit, and for whose members only landlords 
could vote. Yet such a Council exists for the sailor. Local Marine 
Boards, fulfilling the same functions and more, than a Parish Council, 
are elected by shipowners from shipowners. .A register of shipowners 
is prepared; shipowners only can be candidates; shipowners only can 
vote. A shipowner has one vote for every 2 50 tons owned by him, 
and may have ten votes. W e want a register of sailors and firemen 
al o prepared, ailors to have votes, and sailors to be candidates. 

Democracy being admittedly a good thing in public bodies, the seamen 
ask a nominal share.* 

One other word only, and that for the sailor's dependents. The 
practice of monthly wage-payments to landsmen has long died out ; 
in few places indeed are men paid even fortnightly. But the sailor's 
wife can get but once a month-not the sailor's wages, but half only. 
Two pounds is a sum which need the mo.t careful handling and 
management if it is to keep a woman and many little ones until the 
next month's wage is clue; and often the sum is less than £ 2. The 
inevitable happens. Pressing necessities absorb the bulk in the first 
two weeks, and life is sustained in the latter by the continual trot to 
the pawnshop, a mortgage upon the next month's cash. This withholding 
of money which has been actually earned is the cause of 
more sorrow, more sin and shame, than most men dream of. \Vith 
the seaman's con ent, two-third of his money-or even more-
should be paid to his wife every week. Shipowners object that it 
would be so much trouble. But every other capitali~t has it to 
suffer ; why exempt the shipowner ? What is thi small worry to a 
thousand owners, compared with the saving of one \\"Oman from 
shame, the rescue from break-up of one sailor's home? 

This, that I ha\·e sketched, i the relationship of Socialism to the 
Seaman. In the upward development of the community he has no 
part, doomed to remain eternally beyond the pale. He can never 
be a citizen : to become that he must cease to be a ~ailor. But 
though he stands for ever without the walls, yet surely he gives to 
the community, in labor and in life, more than any of its members. 
On him our island progress depends. That the community maythri\·e, there is imposed upon him a loveless life, eternal monotony, 

* T he Board of Trade nominates four representatives ; anti :\Tr. :\lundella has 
plaretl a practical seaman upon every :\Iarine Board in the country. i\lr. llaYelock 
\\"ilson, :\l.P., is on the London body. 

and the daily-recurring hazard of a violent death. Exiled from home, 
from friends, from all that we have learnt to associate with happiness,
surely from the community to him there is an abounding debt, and 
Socialism will belie the equality it desires if it leaves that debt unpaid. 
To make his life less weary, less fraught with danger and with 
death, to keep from his wife and little ones special exposure to 
poverty and sin-this is all he asks-all that can be given for many 
years. To give him these is but a little thing to do, involving no 
great effort, no thwarting of other and more ambitious schemes. One 
instalment at least could be carried in a session if there were but anybody of voters anxious for its success. To realize and fulfil this 
duty is a work worthy of the Fabian Society, imperative upon professors 
of the Socialist faith. The sailor, in these days of labor 
awakening, sees dimly the vision of a higher life, feels stirringwithin him strange and unusual hopes. In the realization of these 
his efforts will be often blind, often thwarted. On our help he 
depends ; we should discredit our creed if we made no attempt to 
shape to practical ends the expectation of those 

Who, rowing hard against the stream, 
Saw distant Gates of Eden gleam, 
And did not dream it was a dream. 

APPENDIX . 

THE LAW AS TO EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY in relation to the 
Shipping Interests; compiled from Reports of English officials in the l'arious 
countries. 

UNITED STATES.-No legislation on the subject. Legal decisions tend rather towards 
exonerating the employer, and adopting the "common employment " 
theory. 

SII"EDE N. -No compensation, except four weeks' extra wages for discharge with 
injury. 
NORI\"AY.-No compensation. 

FI{ANCE.-Shipowners are in the same position as other employers, and are liable for 
negligence, etc., of the captain. A National Insurance Bill, passed by the 
Chamber of Deputies, June r rth, 1893, doe not include sailors in the Schedule 
of Employments, but a special provision is made for them. 

GERMANY.-Owners are liable under any circumstances ; if accident arise by reason 
of the acts of a person not in the owner's employment, yet if such accident happen 
on board whilst the sailor is in discharge of his duties, the owner must compensate. 
There is a legally compulsory Insurance Fund, sustained and managed by the 
shipowners; there are also fixed scales foe injuries ; the maximum for total incapacitation 
is an annual allowance of two-thirds of a man's ordinary wage•. 


NL-MllEI{ OF PEI<SONS employed in Vessels (Registered under the Merchant ShippingActs) belonging to the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man (but exclusi,·e of 
the Channel Islands), which were returned as .employed in the Home and ForeignTrades in 1886, 1888, 1890. (Appendix xcix., Lab. Com., Group B.) 
Note. -Persons employed in vessels engaged in inland navigation and in yachts 

are not included. 

Year. British j 
Seamen._ I ForeignSeamen. Lascars. Masters. 
Fishermen 
(includingSkippers.) 
\1886 
1888 
1890 
144.332 
144,201 
151,132 
24,767 
24,937 
26,998 
16,673 
18,427 
22,7 3+ 
13,917 
13,590 
I 3,563 
21,203 
21,253 
20,483 

Total. 

220,892 
222,408 
234,910 

NL-MBER OF SHIPS and Tonnage and Analysis of Persons employed during 1892. 
(Nav. and Ship. Returns, 1892. C. 7005.) 

Se:~men. 
Chief 
\'essels. Tonnage. Masters. Engin'rs. Mates. British. Foreign. Lascars. Total. 
---------------
17,020 8,449.512 17,020 18,681 I7,020 132,7I6 30,899 25,399 241,735 
Note.-ln many returns Lascars and other Asiatics are classed as British seamen. 
This should be watched in looking up returns. 

N UMBER OF SEAMEN whose lives were lost at their employment, for the year ending 
June 30, 1892. (Abstract of Shipping Casualties, 1893. C. 7069.) 
In Sailing Vessels, 1,28+. In Steam Vessels, 616. Total, 1,900. 

SHIPS DETAINED as unseaworthy by operation of Merchant Shipping Act, I876, till 
June, 1892. (Par. Paper, C. 6837.) 

Cause. Reportedby Crew. 
I Reportedby Other 
I Persons. 
Total 
Reported. 
Found 
Safe. I Found 
Unsafe. 
------
-
--
-
Defects in hull, equip-I 
ments or machinery 77 692 769 18 751 
Overloading and improper 
loading 
--
... 
-2 
646 6+8 7 
-I 641 
-
79 I,338 1,417 25 I 1,392 

BOAKD OF TRADE PROSECUTIONS for Improper Loading, &c., under Merchant 
Shipping Act, 1876, for years I885 and 1891 respectively. (Appendix, civ. and 

cviii. Royal Lab. Com., Group B.) 
Improper English Foreign

Year. Overloading. Totals.

Deck Loading. Ships. Ships. 

r88s 9 10 lO 
18gr 27 +9 76 57 19 


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