---
kind: "section"
citation: "46 U.S.C. § 10906"
title: "46"
title_heading: "Shipping"
number: "10906"
heading: "Discharge of crew for unsuitability"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/46/10906"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Vessels and Seamen"
  - "Part G — Merchant Seamen Protection and Relief"
  - "Chapter 109 — Proceedings on Unseaworthiness"
---

# §10906. Discharge of crew for unsuitability


When a survey is made at a foreign port, the surveyors shall state in the report whether, in their opinion, the vessel had been sent to sea unsuitably provided in any important particular, by neglect or design or through mistake or accident. If by neglect or design, and the consular officer approves the finding, the officer shall discharge a [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) requesting discharge and shall require the [master](/usc/46/10101.md?p=1) to pay one month’s wages to that [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) in addition to wages then due, or sufficient money for the return of the [seaman](/usc/46/10101.md?p=3) to the nearest and most convenient port of the United States, whichever is the greater amount.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 98–89, Aug. 26, 1983, 97 Stat. 576.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |
| --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source section (U.S. Code) |
| 10906 | 46:658 |

Section 10906 provides that if a consular officer finds that a vessel has been sent to sea in an unsuitable state, a crew member requesting discharge must be paid one month’s additional wages and passage to the United States.