In re Scott

Petitioner is a seaman who seeks to recover a sum on deposit in the Registry of this Court, the sum represents wages which were due petitioner at the time he left the vessel S. S. Sonoma at Auckland, New Zealand. The master of the vessel logged petitioner as a deserter and paid his wages into the Registry of the Court, pursuant to 46 U.S.C.A. § 706 . That section provides that wages forfeited for desertion are applied first to the payment of any expense incurred by the master or owner by reason of the desertion, and the balance is to be paid by the master to any shipping commissioner, who is to pay it to the district court.

The rule in this circuit is that the United States is a necessary party in this type of proceeding. Humes v. Alaska Transportation Co., 9 Cir., 180 F.2d 534, 536 . Accordingly the United States has filed an answer praying that petitioner’s wages be forfeited to the United States on the ground that petitioner deserted the S. S. Sonoma.

Petitioner signed on the S. S. Sonoma as a messman in San Francisco for a voyage which would terminate in San Francisco. While in Auckland, New Zealand, he left the vessel under circumstances which are in dispute. He claims that…