White Act of 1898

The White Act of 1898 (30 Stat. 755), formally known as An Act To amend the laws relating to American seamen, for the protection of such seamen, and to promote commerce, is a United States Federal statute governing mariners in the United States Merchant Marine.

Among other things, the act:

• abolished the practice of imprisoning sailors who deserted from vessels in "American or nearby waters."[1]
• abolished corporal punishment of seamen[1]

Prior to the White Act of 1898 "'bully mates'...had relied on their fists, belaying pins, and handspikes to enforce discipline."[1]

Notes

1. Bauer, 1988:285.

References

• Bauer, K. Jack (1988). A Maritime History of the United States: The Role of America's Seas and Waterways. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina. ISBN 0-87249-519-1.
• "American Merchant Marine Timeline, 1789 - 2005". American Maritime History in the Age of Sail. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
• Sailors' Union of the Pacific. "SUP History". Sailors' Union of the Pacific. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
• Sailors' Union of the Pacific. "Chapter I: The Lookout of the Labor Movement" (PDF). Sailors' Union of the Pacific. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
• Gibson, E. Kay (2006). Brutality on Trial: Hellfire Pedersen, Fighting Hansen, And the Seaman's Act of 1915. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. p. 225. ISBN 0-8130-2991-0. Retrieved 2013-10-14.