White Act of 1898

The White Act of 1898 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."
• abolished corporal punishment of seamen

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

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". 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. University Press of Florida: University Press of Florida. p. 225. ISBN 0-8130-2991-0  .