- gineers whom they employed, alleging, among other
reasons, that they were thus frequently prevented from promoting men in their service who had served them well and faithfully—as for instance, those in an inferior capacity, such as the head stoker—there can be no doubt that the effect of the law, enforcing these examinations, has been as salutary in the case of engineers as it has proved in the case of masters and mates. There may be exceptions to the rule, but, on the whole, the requirements of the Act have tended, materially, to improve the class of men now employed as engineers on our merchant steamers, and have, as such, been generally accepted by the men themselves.
But, before closing my remarks on the mercantile marine legislation of the twelve years subsequent to the repeal of the Navigation Laws, there is one measure, apparently trivial in itself, which has been a great boon to our seamen. Before any of these Acts came into operation, they, as I have endeavoured to show, were to a great extent under the control of a class of men familiarly known as "crimps," who were the "sailor's agents."[1] They found him a ship, discounted his advance note at usurious rates, assisted him to receive his wages at the end of the voyage,[2]*
- ↑ See evidence at great length on this subject before Merchant Shipping Committee of 1860; and especially before Royal Commission on unseaworthy ships of 1873-4.
- ↑ From having been myself trained in the forecastle of a ship, I am familiar with the character and habits of sailors at sea. Though I have found among them some worthless characters, as may be found in all other branches of trade, and a few scheming and clever but bad men, who were the leaders in all mischief, known frequently as "sea lawyers," the sailor at sea is usually an industrious, thrifty, and, I may add, a sober man. You will find him in the "dog watches," or during the Saturday-afternoon holidays, making, mending, or washing his clothes;
