against the seaman. Hence a very large sum was necessarily expended by the American Government in providing for destitute seamen. But this was partly attributable to the general increase of the United States commerce, and not altogether to the defective working of the law. While the aggregate amount of the registered tonnage of the United States in 1830 was about 576,000 tons, it had reached in 1840, 899,000, showing an increase of 323,000 in ten years,[1] but the increase of seamen applying for relief at distant consulates had at that time, it would seem, gone far beyond the general increase in the amount of shipping.
The whole question of the relations between the men and their employers, as they existed in the United States, is too wide a subject to be embraced in the present work. There are, however, some general, as well as special, points, both as regards the mariners and the law regulating their conduct, which deserve attention. During the first half of this century the masters of American vessels were, as a rule, greatly superior to those who held similar positions in English ships, arising in some measure from the limited education of the latter, which was not sufficient to qualify them for the higher grades of the merchant service. American shipowners required of their masters not merely a knowledge of navigation and seamanship, but of commercial pursuits, the nature of exchanges, the art of correspondence, and a sufficient knowledge of business to qualify them to represent the interests of
- ↑ Vide Mr. Calhoun's report, 'Executive Documents,' 2nd Session, 28th Congress, Document No. 95. 1844-45.
