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MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - LONG TITLE

An Act to amend the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1900.{1}
[21st December 1906]
PART I$$A

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 2
Application to foreign ships of s.462 of principal Act.

2. Section four hundred and sixty-two of the principal Act (which
relates to the detention of foreign ships)

(1)shall apply in the case of a ship which is unsafe by reason of
the defective condition of her hull, equipments, or machinery, and
accordingly... residue amends s.462 of 1894 c.60

(2)shall apply with respect to any foreign ships being at any port
in the United Kingdom, whether those ships take on board any cargo
at that port or not.

Ss.3, 4 rep. by 1949 c.43 s.37(5) sch.3. S.5 rep. by SLR 1927

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 6
Saving for ship coming in under stress of weather, &c.

6. Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act
shall affect any foreign ship not bound to a port of the United
Kingdom which comes into any port of the United Kingdom for any
purpose other than the purpose of embarking or landing passengers,
or taking in or discharging cargo or taking in bunker coal.

Ss.712 rep. by SLR 1927; 1932 c.9 s.67 sch.4 Pt.II; 1949 c.43
s.37(5) sch.3; 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5

Inclusion of foreign steamships as passenger steamers.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 13

13. The definition of "passenger steamer" in section two hundred and
sixty-seven of the principal Act shall be amended so as to include
every foreign steamship (whether originally proceeding from a port in
the United Kingdom or from a port out of the United Kingdom) which
carries passengers to or from any place, or between any places, in
the United Kingdom.

S.14 rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 15
Passengers landed or embarked by means of tenders.

15. Where a passenger steamer takes on board passengers from a
tender, or lands passengers by means of a tender, she shall be
deemed to be taking the passengers on board from, or landing the
passengers at, the port from or to which the tender comes or goes,
and passengers conveyed in a tender to or from a ship from or to
a place in the United Kingdom shall for the purposes of Part III
of the principal Act, and for the purposes of any returns to be
made under the Merchant Shipping Acts, be deemed to be passengers
carried from or to a place in the United Kingdom.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 16
Restriction as to the decks on which passengers may be carried.

16.(1) A ship shall not carry passengers, ..., on more than one
deck below the water line.

(2) If this section is not complied with in the case of any ship
the master of the ship shall for each offence be liable to a fine
not exceeding five hundred pounds.

Ss.1720 rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 21
Penalty on master or owner for non-compliance with provisions as to
passenger steamers.

21. If the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts which require a
passenger steamer to be surveyed and to have a passenger steamer's
certificate are not complied with in the case of any such steamer,
the master or owner of the steamer shall, without prejudice to any
other remedy or penalty under the Merchant Shipping Acts, be liable
on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for every
passenger carried from or to any place in the United Kingdom, and
the master or owner of any tender by means of which passengers are
taken on board or landed from any such steamer shall be liable to
a like penalty for every passenger so taken on board or landed.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 22
Overcrowding of passenger steamers.

22. If a passenger steamer has on board at any place a number of
passengers which, having regard to the time, occasion, and
circumstances of the case, is greater than the number allowed by
the passenger steamer's certificate, the owner or master of the
steamer shall, for the purposes of section two hundred and
eighty-three of the principal Act, be deemed to have received those
passengers on board at that place.

Ss.23, 24 rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5

S.25 rep. by SLR 1927; 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5. S.26 rep. by 1970
c.36 s.100 sch.5[

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 27
Certificated cooks for foreign-going ships.

27.(1)... every British foreign-going ship of a thousand tons and
upwards gross tonnage, going to sea from any place in the British
Islands or on the continent of Europe between the River Elbe and
Brest inclusive, shall be provided with and carry a duly
certificated cook who is able to prove one month's service at sea
in some capacity.

(2) A cook shall not be deemed to be duly certificated within the
meaning of this section unless he is the holder of a certificate
of competency in cooking granted by the Board of Trade or by some
school of cookery or other institution approved for the purpose by
that Board, or is the holder of certificates of discharge showing
at least two years' service as cook previously to the said
thirtieth day of June nineteen hundred and eight.

(3) The cook shall be rated in the ship's articles as ship's cook,
or in the case of ships of not more than two thousand tons gross
tonnage, or ships in which the crew, or the majority of the crew,
provide their own provisions, either as ship's cook or as cook and
steward.

(4) In the case of an emigrant ship, the ship's cook shall be in
addition to the cook required by section three hundred and four of
the principal Act.

(5) If the requirements of this section are not complied with in
the case of any ship, the master or owner of the ship shall, if
there is no sufficient reason for the failure to comply with the
requirements, for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a
fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds.]

Ss.2843 rep. by 1923 c.40 s.1; 1969 c.16 (NI) s.31(2) sch.3 Pt.I;
1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5[

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 44
Deduction from wages and payment to superintendents, &c., of fines.

44.(1) Every fine imposed on a seaman for any act of misconduct
for which his agreement imposes a fine shall be deducted as follows
(that is to say):

(a)if the offender is discharged in the United Kingdom, and the
offence, and the entry in the log-book required by the Merchant
Shipping Acts in respect thereof, are proved to the satisfaction,
... of the superintendent..., the master or owner shall deduct the
fine from the wages of the offender;

(b)if the offender enters His Majesty's naval service or is
discharged abroad, and the offence and the entry as aforesaid are
proved to the satisfaction of the officer in command of the ship
he so enters, or of the proper authority..., as the case may be,
the fine shall be deducted as aforesaid and an entry made in the
official log-book of the ship and signed by the officer or
authority to whose satisfaction the offence is proved.

(2) Every fine so deducted shall be paid

(a)if the offender is discharged in the United Kingdom, to the
superintendent;

(b)if the offender enters His Majesty's naval service, on the return
of the ship to its port of destination, if that port is in the
United Kingdom, to the superintendent..., and, if the port of
destination is not in the United Kingdom, to the proper authority
as defined for the purpose of this Part of this Act;

(c)if the offender is discharged at any place out of the United
Kingdom, to the proper authority.

(3) A proper authority shall remit any amounts received by them
under this section at such times and in such manner, and render
such accounts in respect thereof, as the Board of Trade require.

(4) If a master or owner fails without reasonable cause to pay any
fine as required by this section, he shall for each offence be
liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding six times the
amount of the fine not so paid.

(5) An act of misconduct for which any fine has been inflicted and
paid by, or deducted from the wages of, the seaman, shall not be
otherwise punished under the Merchant Shipping Acts.]

Ss.4548 rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5[

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 49
Definitions of ""proper authority'' and ""seamen.''

49. For the purposes of this Part of this Act, unless the context
otherwise requires,

(1) The expression "proper authority" means

(a)as respects a place out of His Majesty's dominions, the British
consular officer, or, if there is no such officer in the place,
any two British merchants resident at or near the place, or, if
there is only one British merchant so resident, that British
merchant; and

(b)as respects a place in a British possession

(i)in relation to the discharge or leaving behind of seamen, or the
payment of fines, a superintendent, or, in the absence of any such
superintendent, the chief officer of customs at or near the place;
and

(ii)in relation to distressed seamen, the governor of the possession,
or any person acting under his authority; and

(2)The expression "seamen" includes not only seamen as defined by
the principal Act, but also apprentices to the sea service:

(3)The provisions of this Part of this Act shall, for the purpose
of sections two hundred and sixty to two hundred and sixty-six of
the principal Act (which relate to the application of Part II of
that Act), be construed as if they were contained in Part II of
that Act.]

Ships' names.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 50

50.(1) The Board of Trade in conjunction with the Commissioners of
Customs, may make regulations enabling the Board of Trade to refuse
the registry of any ship by the name by which it is proposed to
register that ship if it is already the name of a registered
British ship or a name so similar as to be calculated to deceive,
and may by those regulations require notice to be given in such
manner as may be directed by the regulations before the name of
the ship is marked on the ship, or before the name of the ship
is entered in the register.

(2) If the registry of a ship by the name by which it is
proposed to register that ship is refused by the Board of Trade,
or if any requirements of the regulations are not complied with in
the case of any ship which it is proposed to register, that ship
shall not be registered under the name proposed or until the
regulations are complied with, as the case may be.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 51
Power to inquire into the title of a registered ship to be
registered.

51.(1) Where it appears to the Commissioners of Customs that there
is any doubt as to the title of any ship registered as a British
ship to be so registered, they may direct the registrar of the
port of registry of the ship to require evidence to be given to
his satisfaction that the ship is entitled to be registered as a
British ship.

(2) If within such time, not less than thirty days, as the
Commissioners fix, satisfactory evidence of the title of the ship to
be registered is not so given, the ship shall be subject to
forfeiture under Part I of the principal Act.

(3) In the application of this section to a port in a British
possession, the Governor of the British possession, and, in the
application of this section to foreign ports of registry, the Board
of Trade, shall be substituted for the Commissioners of Customs.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 52
Provisions with respect to mortgages of ships sold to foreigners.

52.Subs.(1) amends s.21 of 1894 c.60

(2) It is hereby declared that where the registry of a ship is
considered as closed under subsection (1) of section twenty-one of
the principal Act as amended by this section, or under subsection
(10) of section forty-four of that Act, on account of a transfer
to persons not qualified to be owners of British ships, any
unsatisfied registered mortgage (including mortgages made under a
certificate of mortgage) may, if the ship comes within the
jurisdiction of any court in His Majesty's dominions which has
jurisdiction to enforce the mortgage, or would have had such
jurisdiction if the transfer had not been made, be enforced by that
court notwithstanding the transfer, without prejudice, in cases where
the ship has been sold under a judgment of a court, to the effect
of that judgment.

S.53 amends s.48 of 1894 c.60. Ss.54, 55 rep. by 1965 c.47 s.7(2)
sch.2. S.56 (rep. prosp. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5) amends s.92 of
1894 c.60. S.57 rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5[

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 58
Title to be rated as A.B.

58.Subs.(1) amends s.126 of 1894 c.60

(2) Any superintendent or other officer before whom a seaman is
engaged shall refuse to enter the seaman as A.B. on the agreement
with the crew unless the seaman give such satisfactory proof as is
required by section one hundred and twenty-six of the principal Act
of his title to be so rated; and if any seaman, for the purpose
of obtaining a rating as A.B., makes any false statement or false
representation, he shall be liable on summary conviction in respect
of each offence to a fine not exceeding five pounds.]

Ss.5963 rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5[

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 64
Increase of crew space.

64.(1) Subsection (1) of section two hundred and ten of the
principal Act (which provides for the space required for each seaman
or apprentice in any place in a British ship occupied by seamen or
apprentices and appropriated to their use) shall be construed as if
a space of not less than one hundred and twenty cubic feet and of
not less than fifteen superficial feet measured on the deck or
floor of that place were substituted for a space of not less than
seventy-two cubic feet and of not less than twelve superficial feet
measured on the deck or floor of that place.

(2) In estimating the space available for the proper accommodation
of seamen and apprentices, there may be taken into account the
space occupied by any mess rooms, bath rooms, or washing places
appropriated exclusively to the use of those seamen and apprentices,
so, however, that the space in any place appropriated to the use
of seamen or apprentices in which they sleep is not less than
seventy-two cubic feet and twelve superficial feet for each seaman
or apprentice.

(3) Nothing in this section shall affect

(a)any ship registered before the passing of this Act or which was
in course of construction on the first day of January nineteen
hundred and seven; or

(b)any ship of not more than three hundred tons burden; or

(c)any fishing boat within the meaning of Part IV of the principal
Act,

S.65 rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5[

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 66
Appeal from decision on investigation as to shipping casualties.

66.[Where, on any investigation or inquiry under the provisions of
Part VI of the principal Act, as applied by the Merchant Shipping
(Diving Operations) Regulations 1975, the court finds that a casualty
to which those Regulations apply has been caused or contributed to
by the wrongful act or default of any person, and an application
for rehearing has not been made under section 475 of the principal
Act as applied by those Regulations, or has been refused, the owner
or operator of the ship, or any other person who, having an
interest in the investigation or inquiry, has appeared at the
hearing and is affected by the decision of the court, may appeal
from the decision in the same manner and subject to the same
conditions in and subject to which a master may appeal under that
section against a decision with respect to the cancelling or
suspension of his certificate.]][

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 67
Power of naval court to send a person sentenced to imprisonment
home to undergo sentence.

67.(1) The powers of a naval court under section four hundred and
eighty-three of the principal Act (which deals with those powers)
shall include a power to send an offender sentenced by the court
to imprisonment either to the United Kingdom or to any British
possession to which His Majesty by Order in Council has applied
this section, as appears to them most convenient for the purpose of
being imprisoned, and the court may take the same steps, and for
that purpose shall have the same powers, as respects the orders
which may be given to masters of ships as a consular officer has
for the purpose of sending an offender for trial under section six
hundred and eighty-nine of the principal Act, and subsections (2),
(4), and (5) of that section shall apply with the necessary
modification.

(2) Any master of a ship to whose charge an offender is committed
under this section shall, on his ship's arrival in the United
Kingdom or in a British possession, as the case may be, give the
offender into the custody of some police officer or constable, and
the offender shall be dealt with as if he had been convicted and
sentenced to imprisonment by a court of competent jurisdiction in
the United Kingdom or in the British possession, as the case may
be.

(3) His Majesty may by Order in Council apply this section to any
British possession the Legislature of which consents to that
application.][

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 68
Appeal from naval courts.

68.(1) Any person aggrieved by an order of a naval court ordering
the forfeiture of wages, or by a decision of a naval court of a
question as to wages, fines, or forfeitures, may appeal to the High
Court ..., and on any such appeal the High Court may confirm,
quash, or vary the order or decision appealed against as they think
just.

(2) Subsection (2) of section four hundred and eighty-three of the
principal Act shall not have effect with respect to any order of a
naval court which is quashed on an appeal under this section, and,
where an order of a naval court is varied on appeal, shall apply
as if the order as so varied were the order originally made by
the naval court.]

S.69 (rep. prosp. by 1979 c.39 s.50(4) sch.7 Pt.I) amends s.503 of
1894 c.60. Ss.7071 rep. by 1958 c.62 s.8(6) sch.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 72
Delivery of wreck to receiver.

72. Section five hundred and eighteen of the principal Act shall
apply to wreck found or taken possession of outside the limits of
the United Kingdom, and brought within the limits of the United
Kingdom, as it applies to wreck found or taken possession of within
the limits of the United Kingdom.

S.73 rep. by 1913 c.31 s.60(1) sch.2. S.74 rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100
sch.5

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 75
Substitution of ship surveyor for shipwright surveyor.

75.(1) Any person appointed to be a surveyor of ships under section
seven hundred and twenty-four of the principal Act may be appointed
either as a ship surveyor or as an engineer surveyor, or as both,
and any reference in that section or in any other section of the
principal Act to a shipwright surveyor shall be construed as a
reference to a ship surveyor.

(2) Any surveyor of ships who before the passing of this Act has
been appointed as a shipwright surveyor, or both as a shipwright
surveyor and an engineer surveyor, shall be deemed to have been
appointed as a ship surveyor, or both as a ship surveyor and an
engineer surveyor, as the case may be.

(3) The surveys required to be made under section two hundred and
seventy-two of the principal Act by a ship surveyor and by an
engineer surveyor may be made by the same person if that person
has been appointed both as a ship surveyor and as an engineer
surveyor, and that section shall be construed accordingly.

(4) The Board of Trade may, under subsection (2) of section seven
hundred and twenty-four of the principal Act, in addition to
appointing a surveyor-general of ships, appoint such other principal
officers in connection with the survey of ships and other matters
incidental thereto, as the Board think fit.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 76
Return to be furnished by masters of ships as to passengers.

76.(1) The master of every ship, whether a British or foreign ship,
which carries any passenger to a place in the United Kingdom from
any place out of the United Kingdom, or from any place in the
United Kingdom to any place out of the United Kingdom, shall
furnish to such person and in such manner as the Board of Trade
direct a return giving the total number of any passengers so
carried, distinguishing, if so directed by the Board, the total
number of any class of passengers so carried, and giving, if the
Board of Trade so direct, such particulars with respect to
passengers as may be for the time being required by the Board.

(2) Any passenger shall furnish the master of the ship with any
information required by him for the purpose of the return.

(3) If the master of a ship fails to make a return as required
by this section, or makes a false return, and if any passenger
refuses to give any information required by the master of the ship
for the purpose of the return required by this section, or gives
any false information for the purpose, the master or passenger shall
be liable for each offence on summary conviction to a fine [not
exceeding fifty pounds in the case of a failure or refusal and two
hundred pounds in the case of a false return or false information].

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 77
Return as to cattlemen brought to the United Kingdom.

77.(1) The master of every ship which carries any cattlemen to any
port in the United Kingdom from any port out of the United Kingdom
shall furnish to such person and in such manner as the Secretary
of State directs a return giving such particulars with respect to
any cattlemen so carried as may be required for the time being by
order of the Secretary of State, and every such cattleman shall
furnish the master of the ship with any information required by him
for the purpose of the return.

(2) If the master of a ship fails to make the return required by
this section, or makes a false return, he shall be liable on
summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [fifty pounds], and if
any cattleman refuses to give information required by the master for
the purpose of the return under this section, or gives any false
information for the purpose, he shall be liable on summary
conviction to [such a fine].

(3) For the purpose of this section the expression "cattleman" means
any person who is engaged or employed to attend during the voyage
of the ship on any cattle carried therein as cargo.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 78
Dispensing powers of the Board of Trade.

78.(1) The Board of Trade may, if they think fit, and upon such
conditions (if any) as they think fit to impose, exempt any ship
from any specified requirement contained in, or prescribed in
pursuance of, the Merchant Shipping Acts, or dispense with the
observance of any such requirement in the case of any ship, if
they are satisfied that that requirement has been substantially
complied with in the case of that ship, or that compliance with
the requirement is unnecessary in the circumstances of the case, and
that the action taken or provision made as respects the
subject-matter of the requirement in the case of the ship is as
effective as, or more effective than, actual compliance with the
requirement.

(2) The Board of Trade shall annually lay before both Houses of
Parliament a special report stating the cases in which they have
exercised their powers under this section during the preceding year,
and the grounds upon which they have acted in each case.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 79
Power to appoint advisory committees.

79.(1) The Board of Trade may, if they think fit, appoint
committees for the purpose of advising them when considering the
making or alteration of any rules, regulations, or scales for the
purpose of the Merchant Shipping Acts, consisting of such persons as
they may appoint representing the interests principally affected, or
having special knowledge of the subject matter.

(2) There shall be paid to the members of any such committee, out
of moneys provided by Parliament, such travelling and other
allowances as the Board of Trade fix with the consent of the
Treasury.

(3) Committees may be appointed under this section to advise the
Board of Trade specially as regards any special rules, regulations,
or scales, or generally as regards any class or classes of rules,
regulations, or scales which the Board may assign to them.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 80
Power to register Government ships under the Merchant Shipping Acts.

80.(1) His Majesty may by Order in Council make regulations with
respect to the manner in which Government ships may be registered
as British ships for the purpose of the Merchant Shipping Acts, and
those Acts, subject to any exceptions and modifications which may be
made by Order in Council, either generally or as respects any
special class of Government ships, shall apply to Government ships
registered in accordance with those regulations as if they were
registered in manner provided by those Acts.

(2) Nothing in this Act shall affect the powers of the Legislature
of any British possession to regulate any Government ships under the
control of the Government of that possession.

(3) In this section the expression "Government ships" means ships
not forming part of His Majesty's Navy which belong to His Majesty,
or are held by any person on behalf of or for the benefit of the
Crown, and for that reason cannot be registered under the principal
Act.

S.83 amends s.744 of 1894 c.60

Construction of references to Merchant Shipping Acts.

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 84

84.(1) In this Act the expression "principal Act" means the Merchant
Shipping Act, 1894, and the expression "Merchant Shipping Acts" means
the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1900, and this Act.

(2) Any reference in this Act to any provision of the Merchant
Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1900, which has been amended by any
subsequent Act or is amended by this Act, shall be construed as a
reference to the provision as so amended.

S.85 rep. by SLR 1927

MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT 1906 - SECT 86
Short title.

86.(1) This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping Act, 1906,
and shall be construed as one with the principal Act, and the
Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1900, and this Act may be cited
together as the Merchant Shipping Acts, 1894 to 1906.

Subs.(2) rep. by SLR 1927

First Schedule rep. by 1970 c.36 s.100 sch.5. Second Schedule rep.
by SLR 1927