An ``American vessel'' on which employment as a seaman is subject to
the minimum wage under the provisions of section 6(b)(2) and section
13(a)(14) is not limited by the language of the Act to those vessels
which are ``documented'' or ``numbered'' as described above in
Secs. 783.40 and 783.41. Since the term ``American vessel'' has
traditionally been applied to regularly documented vessels (see U.S. v.
Rogers, 27 Fed. Cas. 890; Badger v. Entierrez, 111 U.S. 734; 18 Op. A.G.
234 (1885); 48 Am. Jur. 40), the inclusion of numbered vessels in the
statutory definition of ``American vessel'' would indicate that the work
``includes'' is used in the sense of ``embracing'', as an enlargement
and not as a word of limitation. The term may therefore apply to other
vessels that do not fall within the illustrations given. For example,
neither the documenting laws nor the numbering laws apply to vessels
plying the purely internal waters of a State which do not join up with
navigable waters touching on another State (19 CFR 3.5(a)(4); 33 CFR
2.10-5), but, nevertheless, the Fair Labor Standards Act does apply in
those areas and it clearly would not comport with the remedial purpose
of the Act to exclude from its minimum wage provisions seamen engaged in
commerce or in the production of goods for commerce in those areas
though the vessels are not documented or numbered. On the contrary, the
legislative history shows the affirmative purpose to improve, though to
a limited extent, the status of seamen (Sen. Rep. No. 145, 87th Cong.,
1st sess., p. 32, 50).
