Gold

The libelant and appellant filed his libel in the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of California based upon a claim for three days’ pay amounting to $4.75, together with $449.64 penalties under Rev. St. § 4529, as amended (46 USCA § 596), for waiting time. From a decree denying the penalties, libelant has appealed.

On the morning of March 22,1933, appellant was employed as an able-bodied seaman on the appellee’s vessel the Lurline for the voyage from Hongkong to San Francisco. The ship was due to sail at noon of that day, and because of lack of time the shipping articles were not signed by appellant before the United States Consul in Hongkong, as is the regular practice, but the Consul authorized the signing of the shipping articles on board the ship before the purser, by the appellant, to be certified by the United States Consul in Shanghai when the ship arrived at that port. The next day while the vessel was under way appellant refused to sign the shipping articles saying that there was dissension among the members of the crew and that the food was poor and ho did not want to make the trip across the Pacific on the Lurline under those conditions.…