693418-1876-Merchant-Shipping-Act-1876- — Page 1

560

No. 222.

THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 16TH DECEMBER, 1876.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

The following Copy of the "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1876," is published for general information.

By Command,

Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 12th December, 1876.

A.D. 1876.

Short title.

Construction of Act.

Commencement of

Act.

Sending unseaworthy

ship to sea a

misdemeanor.

Obligation of shipowner to crew

with respect to use of reasonable efforts to

B

CHAPTER 80.

J. GARDINER AUSTIN,

Colonial Secretary.

An Act to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts.

[15th August 1876.]

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.

1. This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping Act, 1876.

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,

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.

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 inay 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.

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

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 secure seaworthiness. 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 com- mences, 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.

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 derained or released, as follows:

(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.) 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.) 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 he 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.) 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.