This power over the liberty and person of a fellow man, being against common right, and intrusted to the master only from public policy, regarding the necessities of the service, is to be sparingly used, and a strict account will be required of its exercise. The master is responsible for any punishment inflicted on board the vessel, unless in his absence, or when he is prevented by force from interfering.[96] Neither will absence always be an excuse. If he had reason to suppose that such a thing might be done, and did not take pains to be present and interfere, he will be liable. Neither, (as is often supposed,) will the advice, or even the personal superintendence or orders of a consul, or any foreign authority, relieve the master of his personal responsibility.[97] He may ask advice, but he must act upon his own account, and is equally answerable for what he does himself, and what he permits to be done on board his vessel by others. The seaman is entitled to be dealt with by his own captain, under whom he shipped, and whom he may hold responsible at the end of the voyage; and this responsibility is not to be shaken off by calling in the aid of others. In case of an open mutiny, or of imminent danger to life and property, the master may make use of the local authorities; but then he is to remember that he can use them no further than for the purpose of quelling the mutiny, or of apprehending the felon. As soon as his authority is restored, the parental character is again thrown upon him, and all acts of punishment must be upon his own responsibility. He has no right to punish criminally. He has no judicial power. If a seaman has committed an offence further than against the internal order and economy of the ship, and which moderate correction is not sufficient to meet, the master must bring him home, (in confinement, if necessary,) or send him immediately by some other vessel, to be tried by the laws and by a jury of his country.[98] [96] 2 Sumner, 1. Ware, 219. [97] Ware, 367. Gilpin, 31. [98] 1 Pet. Ad. 168. The practice of subjecting American seamen to foreign authority, or to persons whom they cannot well hold answerable,--like that of foreign imprisonment,--is an odious one, and must be justified by an overpowering necessity. A recent statute[99] makes it the duty of consuls to exert themselves to reclaim deserters and discountenance insubordination, and authorizes them to employ the local authorities, where it can usefully be done, for those purposes. But this will unquestionably be restricted to the apprehension of the deserter, and the quelling of the revolt or mutiny; and as soon as these ends are attained, the sole responsibility of the master in dealing with the crew will re-attach. [99] Act 1840, ch. 23, §1.