Merchant Shipping Act 1876

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved


Merchant Shipping Act, 1876

(39 & 40 Vict.) CHAPTER 80.

An Act to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts.

[15th August 1876]

B E it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Preliminary.

Preliminary.

S-1 Short title.

1 Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as theMerchant Shipping Act, 1876.

S-2 Construction of Act.

2 Construction of Act.

2. This Act shall be construed as one with the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, and the Acts amending the same; and the said Acts and this Act may be cited collectively as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1854 to 1876.

S-3 Commencement of Act.

3 Commencement of Act.

3. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of October 1876 (which day is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act); nevertheless any Orders in Council and general rules under this Act may be made at any time after the passing of this Act, but shall not come into operation before the commencement of this Act.

Unseaworthy Ships.

Unseaworthy Ships.

S-4 Sending unseaworthy ship to sea a misdemeanor.

4 Sending unseaworthy ship to sea a misdemeanor.

4. Every person who sends or attempts to send, or is party to sending or attempting to send a British ship to sea in such unseaworthy state that the life of any person is likely to be thereby endangered, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, unless he proves that he used all reasonable means to insure her being sent to sea in a seaworthy state, or that her going to sea in such unseaworthy state was, under the circumstances, reasonable and justifiable, and for the purpose of giving such proof he may give evidence in the same manner as any other witness.

Every master of a British ship who knowingly takes the same to sea in such unseaworthy state that the life of any person is likely to be thereby endangered shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, unless he proves that her going to sea in such unseaworthy state was, under the circumstances, reasonable and justifiable, and for the purpose of giving such proof he may give evidence in the same manner as any other witness.

A prosecution under this section shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Board of Trade, or of the governor of the British possession in which such prosecution takes place.

A misdemeanor under this section shall not be punishable upon summary conviction.

S-5 Obligation of shipowner to crew with respect to use of reasonable efforts to secure seaworthiness.

5 Obligation of shipowner to crew with respect to use of reasonable efforts to secure seaworthiness.

5. In every contract of service, express or implied, between the owner of a ship and the master or any seaman thereof, and in every instrument of apprenticeship whereby any person is bound to serve as an apprentice on board any ship, there shall be implied, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, an obligation on the owner of the ship, that the owner of the ship, and the master, and every agent charged with the loading of the ship, or the preparing thereof for sea, or the sending thereof to sea, shall use all reasonable means to insure the seaworthiness of the ship for the voyage at the time when the voyage commences, and to keep her in a seaworthy condition for the voyage during the same: Provided, that nothing in this section shall subject the owner of a ship to any liability by reason of the ship being sent to sea in an unseaworthy state where, owing to special circumstances, the so sending thereof to sea is reasonable and justifiable.

S-6 Power to detain unsafe ships, and procedure for such detention.

6 Power to detain unsafe ships, and procedure for such detention.

6. Where a British ship, being in any port of the United Kingdom, is, by reason of the defective condition of her hull, equipments, or machinery, or by reason of overloading or improper loading, unfit to proceed to sea without serious danger to human life, having regard to the nature of the service for which she is intended, any such ship (herein-after referred to as ‘unsafe’) may be provisionally detained for the purpose of being surveyed, and either finally detained or released, as follows:

(1) (1.) The Board of Trade, if they have reason to believe on complaint, or otherwise, that a British ship is unsafe, may provisionally order the detention of the ship for the purpose of being surveyed.

(2) (2.) When a ship has been provisionally detained there shall be forthwith served on the master of the ship a written statement of the grounds of her detention, and the Board of Trade may, if they think fit, appoint some competent person or persons to survey the ship and report thereon to the Board.

(3) (3.) The Board of Trade on receiving the report may either order the ship to be released or, if in their opinion the ship is unsafe, may order her to be finally detained, either absolutely, or until the performance of such conditions with respect to the execution of repairs or alterations, or the unloading or reloading of cargo, as the Board think necessary for the protection of human life, and may from time to time vary or add to any such order.

(4) (4.) Before the order for final detention is made a copy of the report shall be served upon the master of the ship, and within seven days after such service the owner or master of the ship may appeal in the prescribed manner to the court of survey (herein-after mentioned) for the port or district where the ship is detained.

(5) (5.) Where a ship has been provisionally detained, the owner or master of the ship, at any time before the person appointed under this section to survey the ship makes such survey, may require that he shall be accompanied by such person as the owner or master may select out of the list of assessors for the court of survey (nominated as herein-after mentioned), and in such case if the surveyor and assessor agree, the Board of Trade shall cause the ship to be detained or released accordingly, but if they differ, the Board of Trade may act as if the requisition had not been made, and the owner and master shall have the like appeal touching the report of the surveyor as is before provided by this section.

(6) (6.) Where a ship has been provisionally detained, the Board of Trade may at any time, if they think it expedient, refer the matter to the court of survey for the port or district where the ship is detained.

(7) (7.) The Board of Trade may at any time, if satisfied that a ship detained under this Act is not unsafe, order her to be released either upon or without any conditions.

(8) (8.) For the better execution of this section, the Board of Trade, with the consent of the Treasury, may from time to time appoint a sufficient number of fit officers, and may remove any of them.

(9) (9.) Any officer so appointed (in this Act referred to as a detaining officer) shall have the same power as the Board of Trade have under this section of provisionally ordering the detention of a ship for the purpose of being surveyed, and of appointing a person or persons to survey her; and if he thinks that a ship so detained by him is not unsafe may order her to be released.

(10) (10.) A detaining officer shall forthwith report to the Board of Trade any order made by him for the detention or release of a ship.

S-7 Constitution of court of survey for appeals.

7 Constitution of court of survey for appeals.

7. A court of survey for a port or district shall consist of a judge sitting with two assessors.

The judge shall be such person as may be summoned for the case in accordance with the rules made under this Act out of a list (from time to time approved for the port or district by one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, in this Act referred to as a Secretary of State,) of wreck commissioners appointed under this Act, stipendiary or metropolitan police magistrates, judges of county courts, and other fit persons; but in any special case in which the Board of Trade think it expedient to appoint a wreck commissioner, the judge shall be such wreck commissioner.

The assessors shall be persons of nautical engineering or other special skill and experience; one of them shall be appointed by the Board of Trade, either generally or in each case, and the other shall be summoned in accordance with the rules under this Act by the registrar of the court, out of a list of persons periodically nominated for the purpose by the local marine board of the port, or, if there is no such board, by a body of local shipowners or merchants approved for the purpose by a Secretary of State, or, if there is no such list, shall be appointed by the judge; if a Secretary of State thinks fit at any time, on the recommendation of the government of any British possession or any foreign state, to add any person or persons to any such list, such person or persons shall, until otherwise directed by the Secretary of State, be added to such list, and if there is no such list shall form such list.

The county court registrar or such other fit person as a Secretary of State may from time to time appoint shall be the registrar of the court, and shall, on receiving notice of an appeal or a reference from the Board of Trade, immediately summon the court in the prescribed manner to meet forthwith.

The name of the registrar and his office, together with the rules made under this Act relating to the court of survey, shall be published in the prescribed manner.

S-8 Power and procedure of court of survey.

8 Power and procedure of court of survey.

8. With respect to the court of survey the following provisions shall have effect:

(1) (1.) The case shall be heard in open court;

(2) (2.) The judge and each assessor may survey the ship, and shall have for the purposes of this Act all the powers of an inspector appointed by the Board of Trade...

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