CHAPTER XXVII.

THE DUTIES OF CONSULAR OFFICERS IN RELATION TO

WRECKS.

570. By the third section of the act of Congress of Duties of con

officers

April 14, 1792, consular officers, in cases where ships in cases of

or vessels of the United States shall be stranded on the coast of their respective consulates, are required, as far as the laws of the country permit, to take proper measures, as well for saving such ships or vessels, their cargoes, and appurtenances, as for storing and securing the effects and merchandise saved, and for taking an inventory or inventories thereof; and the merchandise and effects saved, with the inventory or inventories, must, after deducting therefrom the expense, be delivered to the owner or owners. But no consular officer is permitted to take possession of any such goods, wares, merchandise, or other property, when the master, owner, or consignee thereof is present, or capable of taking possession of the same.1

571. In the execution of the duties prescribed by Course of prothis part of the act, every consular officer is in- ceeding. structed that all vessels, parts of vessels, and any portion of their cargo, belonging to citizens of the United States, saved, and brought into the consular jurisdiction after being wrecked, or in consequence 1 Statutes at Large, vol. i. p. 225.

Owner's inter

tected.

of any disaster at sea, are to be proceeded with in the same manner as if the vessel had stranded within the consular jurisdiction; and if salvage be claimed and allowed by a competent tribunal, the remainder of the effects, or the proceeds thereof, if sold, shall be disposed of in the same manner as is directed in the twenty-eighth chapter of these Instructions respecting the estates of persons dying intestate; provided, in the case of salvage, that the court deciding the same will permit the consular officer to receive the effects and remainder of the property after the salvage is paid.

572. In some countries (as in Sweden) chartered est to be pro- companies have the privilege of taking possession of all property wrecked; in others, it may be vested in particular magistrates or officers. In such cases the consular officer is not to interfere with the legal function of the proper officer, but he may ask leave, as the representative of the absent master or owner, or as his official adviser if he be present, to assist at the taking of the inventory, the sale, and all other proceedings in relation to the property. It is his duty to protect the interest of the owner, and, if his reasonable requests are not complied with, to take the necessary evidence of the facts in the case, and transmit it to the Department of State.

Wrecks of

sels to be re

ported.

573. When any American vessel is wrecked within American ves- his jurisdiction, the consular officer is to give immediate notice to the Department of State, naming the vessel and her owners or master, and giving in detail as many of the circumstances attending the loss of the property as may be known at the time.

Disposition of property.

574. When there is no impediment from the laws of the country, all proceedings in relation to property

wrecked are to be the same as those prescribed in the case of property of intestates, and so also with regard to the taking possession and disposing of whatever effects, whether wrecked, abandoned, or otherwise unrepresented within a consulate, belonging to any citizen of the United States.1

stituted.

575. A consular officer is allowed to institute pro- Legal proceedceedings for the recovery of property, in behalf of ings may be incitizens of his own country, although they may be unknown to him; yet restitution cannot be decreed without specific proof of the individual proprietary interest.2

men by foreign

State.

576. Whenever a consul or commercial agent shall Rescue of receive authentic intelligence of the rescue from ship- American seawreck of seamen or citizens of the United States by vessels to be the master or crew of any foreign vessel, he will, reported to Dewithout delay, transmit to the Department a state- partment of ment of the facts, including the full name of the master of the foreign vessel and of the country or port to which he may belong, and also the names of such of the crew as may have especially distinguished themselves. This statement will be laid before the President, who is expressly authorized by Congress to make suitable acknowledgments to the masters and crews of foreign vessels for their services in rescuing from shipwreck citizens and vessels of the United States. The consular officer will state in his report the names of the passengers and crew who may have perished, and also of the survivors, and what disposition has been made of them.

3

577. He will promptly render such assistance as Assistance may be in his power to his shipwrecked countrymen, be rendered.

1 Toler v. White, Ware, p. 227; Henshaw's Manual, p. 113.

2 Wheaton, vol. x. p. 67; Mason's R. vol. i. p. 21.

3 Statutes at Large, vol. xi. p. 28.

Papers to be preserved.

and institute, whenever it is practicable, energetic proceedings for the protection of their property; but this instruction gives no authority to incur any expense therefor in the expectation of its being defrayed by the Department of State; the appropriation for the relief and protection of American seamen in foreign countries which is made by Congress not being applicable to such purpose. Whenever it is necessary for the safety of the property, the consular officer will apply to the local authorities for assistance.

578. He will carefully collect and preserve all the papers and documents relating to the ship or its cargo, or to the passengers, and deliver them to the parties to whom they belong, or to the representatives of such parties; or, in the event of their death or non-appearance, he will transmit them to the Department of State.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

DUTIES OF CONSULAR OFFICERS IN RELATION TO THE

ESTATES OF INTESTATES.

touching unrepresented

579. THE duties of a consular officer respecting the Duties of a conproperty of Americans relate mostly to the personal sular officer estates of citizens of the United States who die intestate within his consular district, or to wrecks or other American proabandoned property belonging to them, for which no owner or legal representative appears.1

perty.

of

American citi

580. For the information of the representatives of Notice to be the deceased, the consular officer is directed to cause published a notice of the death of every citizen of the United the death of States dying intestate within his consular district, to zens. be published in some newspaper of the country, and also to forward a like notice to the Department of State, that the same may be published in the State to which the deceased belonged; he will also communicate any information which he may have obtained respecting the residence of the family and friends of the deceased.

sold, and under

581. By the second clause of the second section Perishable of the act concerning consular officers, approved property to be April 14, 1792, whenever a citizen of the United what circumStates, other than seamen belonging to any ship or stances. vessel, shall die within the consular district, it is made the duty of the consular officer to take posses

1 Henshaw's Manual, p. 101.