## Facts

- Dillon, a British seaman, signed shipping articles in Liverpool in May 1916 to serve on a British vessel owned by Strathearn Steamship Co., Ltd.
- The articles provided that wages were payable only at the end of the voyage and generally prohibited cash advances; the contract was valid under British law.
- The vessel arrived at Pensacola, Florida, on July 31, 1916, during a voyage that included U.S. ports.
- While still employed and in the U.S. harbor, Dillon demanded one-half of the wages he had then earned; the master refused. Dillon had received no wages for about two months.
- Dillon filed an admiralty libel in federal district court against the vessel to recover wages then earned.
- The district court denied recovery as premature; the Fifth Circuit reversed and allowed recovery; the Supreme Court granted certiorari.

## Issues

1. Whether Seamen’s Act § 4 (amending Rev. Stat. § 4530) applies, by its proviso, to foreign seamen on foreign vessels while in U.S. harbors.
2. Whether Congress may constitutionally apply § 4 to a foreign seaman who shipped abroad under a foreign contract valid under foreign law and requiring wages to be paid only at the end of the voyage.
3. Whether the statute limits the demandable wages to those earned in U.S. ports or requires waiting five days after arrival in a U.S. port before making a demand.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the Fifth Circuit.
- Section 4 applies to seamen on foreign vessels while in U.S. harbors, including foreign seamen on foreign ships, and U.S. courts are open to enforce that right.
- Congress may condition foreign vessels’ entry and use of U.S. ports on compliance with § 4, notwithstanding a contrary foreign wage contract valid where made.
- The demandable amount is one-half of wages “then earned” and is not confined to wages earned in U.S. ports.
- The statute’s five-day language sets an interval limit on demands, not a requirement to wait five days after arrival in a U.S. port.

## Legal Principles

- When a statute expressly applies to “seamen on foreign vessels while in harbors of the United States,” it extends the prescribed wage protections to foreign seamen on foreign ships in those harbors.
- Congress may regulate labor conditions aboard foreign vessels in U.S. ports by conditioning port entry and use on compliance with federal requirements.
- Contract clauses postponing payment of earned wages are void to the extent they conflict with § 4’s right to demand one-half of wages then earned at qualifying ports.
- Under § 4, a seaman may demand one-half of all wages then earned (not limited by where earned), subject to the statute’s limit on how frequently demands may be made.

## Conclusion

The Court held that Seamen’s Act § 4 grants foreign seamen on foreign vessels in U.S. harbors a federally enforceable right to one-half of earned wages on demand, overrides contrary foreign contract terms while in U.S. ports, and permits an immediate demand upon arrival when the statute’s timing conditions are otherwise satisfied.


Strathearn S.S. Co. v. Dillon, 252 U.S. 348 (1920)