---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 10509"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "10509"
heading: "Penalty for failing to begin voyage"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/10509"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part G — Merchant Seamen Protection and Relief"
  - "Chapter 105 — Coastwise Voyages"
---

# §10509. Penalty for failing to begin voyage

- (a) A [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) who fails to be on board at the time contained in the agreement required by [section 10502 of this title](/usc/46/10502.md), without having given 24 hours’ notice of inability to do so, shall forfeit, for each hour’s lateness, one-half of one day’s pay to be deducted from the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3)’s wages if the lateness is recorded in the official logbook on the date of the violation.
- (b) A [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) who does not report at all or subsequently deserts forfeits all wages.
- (c) This section does not apply to a fishing or whaling vessel or a [yacht](/usc/46/12101.md?p=b-3).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 572.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |
| --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source section (U.S. Code) |
| 10509 | 46:576 |

This section provides for a reduction in the wages of seamen who arrive late for voyages, if their late arrival is noted in the official logbook. It does not apply to fishing vessels, whaling vessels or yachts.