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receive a share of the proceeds from fishing operations on a
voyage basis rather than previously agreed-upon wages or fees.
See, e.g., Cromwell v. Slaney, 65 F.2d 940, 941 (1st Cir. 1933);
United States v. Laflin, 24 F.2d 683, 685 (9th Cir. 1928) (“It
has been the maritime law [for more than 700 years] that
agreements, by which seamen, engaged in a fishing or whaling
voyage, are to receive for their services shares of the profits
of the voyage, are contracts of hiring, and the shares so agreed
upon are in the nature of wages, to recover which actions may be
maintained after the end of the voyage.”); The Carrier Dove, 97
F. 111, 112 (1st Cir. 1899); Cape Shore Fish Co. v. United
States, 165 Ct. Cl. 630, 638, 330 F.2d 961, 965 (1964); Brown v.
Hicks, 24 F. 811, 812 (C.C.D. Mass. 1885) (shipmaster contracted
with the boat owner for the “the one-fifteenth lay or share of
the net proceeds of the cargo”).9
9In Cape Shore Fish Co. v. United States, 165 Ct. Cl. 630,
643 n.13, 330 F.2d 961, 969 n.13 (1964), the Court of Claims
quoted the following passage from Melville’s Moby Dick 57-58
(Intl. Collectors Lib. ed.) regarding lays:
“I was already aware that in the whaling business
they paid no wages; but all hands, including the
captain, received certain shares of the profits
called lays, and that these lays were proportioned to
the degree of importance pertaining to the respective
duties of the ship’s company.”
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