All trade by sea from any one part of the United Kingdom to any other part thereof shall be deemed to be a coasting trade and all ships while employed therein shall be deemed to be coasting ships, and no part of the United Kingdom, however situated with regard to any other part, shall be deemed in law, with reference to each other, to be parts beyond the seas; and if any doubt shall at any time arise as to what or to or from what parts of the coast of the United Kingdom shall be deemed a passage by sea, the Commissioners of the Treasury may determine and direct in what cases the trade by water from one port or place in the United Kingdom to another of the same shall or shall not be deemed a trade by sea within the meaning of this or any Act relating to the Customs.
Every foreign ship proceeding either with cargo or passengers or in ballast on any voyage from one part of the United Kingdom to another, or from the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, or Man to the United Kingdom, or from the United Kingdom to any of the said islands, or from any of the said islands to any other of them, or from any part of any of the said islands to any other part of the same, shall be subject, as to stores for the use of the crew and in all other respects, to the same laws, rules, and regulations to which British ships when so employed are now subject; but no such foreign ship nor any goods carried therein shall, during the time she is so employed, be subject to any higher or other rate of dock, pier, harbour, light, pilotage, tonnage, or other dues, duties, tolls, rates, or other charges whatsoever, or to any other rules as to the employment of pilots, or any other rules or restrictions whatsoever, than British ships employed in like manner or goods carried therein, any law, charter, special privilege, or grant to the contrary notwithstanding; nor shall any body corporate or person having or claiming any right or title to any such higher or other rates, dues, duties, tolls, or other charges as aforesaid be entitled to any conpensation in respect thereof under any law or statute relating thereto, or otherwise howsoever.
No goods shall be carried in any coasting ship, except such as shall be laden to be carried coastwise at some port or place in the United Kingdom, and no goods shall be laden on board any ship to be carried coastwise until all goods brought in such ship from parts beyond the seas shall have been unladen, and if any goods shall be taken into or put out of any coasting ship at sea or over the sea, or if any coasting ship shall touch at any place over the sea, or deviate from her voyage, unless forced by unavoidable circumstances, or if the master of any coasting ship which shall have touched at any place over the sea shall not declare the same in writing under his hand to the collector or other proper officer at the port in the United Kingdom where such ship shall afterwards first arrive, the master of such ship shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds.
If any goods shall be unshipped from any ship arriving coastwise, or be shipped or water-borne to be shipped to be carried coastwise, on Sundays or holidays, or unless in the presence or with the authority of the proper officer of the Customs, or unless at such times and places as shall be appointed or approved by him for that purpose, the same shall be forfeited, and the master of the ship shall forfeit the sum of fifty pounds.
The master of every coasting ship shall keep or cause to be kept a cargo-book, stating the names of the ship, the master, and the port to which she belongs, and of the port to which she is bound on each voyage, and shall at every port of lading enter in such book the name of such port, and an account of all goods there taken on board such ship, stating the descriptions of the packages and the quantities and descriptions of the goods therein, and the quantities and descriptions of any goods stowed loose, and the names of the respective shippers and consignees, so far as such particulars are known to him, and shall at every port of discharge of such goods note the respective days on which the same or any of them are delivered out of such ship, and the respective times of departure from every port of lading and of arrival at every port of discharge; and such master shall, on demand, produce such book for the inspection of any officer of Customs, who shall be at liberty to make any note or remark therein; and if upon examination any package entered in the cargo-book as containing foreign goods shall be found not to contain such goods, such package, with its contents, shall be forfeited, or if any package shall be found to contain foreign goods not entered in such book, such goods shall be forfeited; and if such master shall fail correctly to keep such cargo-book, or to produce the same, or if at any time there be found on board such ship any goods not entered in such book as laden, or any goods noted as delivered, or if any goods entered as laden or any goods not noted as delivered be not on board, the master of such ship shall forfeit the sum of twenty pounds.
Before any coasting ship shall depart from her port or place of lading, an account, with a duplicate thereof, in the form No. 11 in Schedule B. to this Act, and containing the several particulars indicated in or required thereby, and signed by the master, shall be delivered to the collector or other proper officer, who shall retain the duplicate, and return the original, dated and signed by him; and such account shall be the clearance of the ship for the voyage, and the transire or pass for the goods expressed therein; and if the master shall fail to deliver a correct account he shall forfeit a sum of twenty pounds ; provided that the Commissioners of the Customs may, when deemed by them expedient, permit general transires to be given, under such regulations as they may direct, for the lading and clearance and for the entry and unlading of any coasting ship and goods, but the same may be revoked by notice in writing under the hand of the proper officer delivered to the master or owner of any ship or any of the crew on board.
Within twenty-four hours after the arrival of any coasting ship at the port or place of discharge, and before any goods be unladen, the transire, with the name of the place or wharf where the lading is to be discharged noted thereon, shall be delivered to the collector or other proper officer, who shall note thereon the date of delivery ; and if any of the goods on board such ship be subject to any duty of excise, the same shall not be unladen without the authority or permission of the proper officer of excise; and if any goods on board any coasting ship arriving in Great Britain or Ireland from the Isle of Man shall be the growth or produce of that isle, or manufactures of that isle from materials the growth or produce thereof, or from materials not subject to duty in Great Britain or Ireland, or from materials upon which the duty shall have been paid and not drawn back in Great Britain or Ireland, the same shall not be unladen until a certificate be produced to the collector or other proper officer from the collector or other proper officer at the port or place of shipment, that proof had there been made in manner required by law that such goods were of such growth, produce, or manufacture, as the case may be; and if any goods shall be unladen contrary hereto, the master shall forfeit the sum of twenty pounds; and if any goods shall be laden on board any ship and carried coastwise, or be brought to any port or place in the United Kingdom for that purpose, or having been brought coastwise shall be unladen in any such port or place contrary to the Customs Acts, such goods shall be forfeited.
Any collector or other proper officer of Customs may go on board any coasting ship in any port or place in the United Kingdom, or at any period of her voyage, search such ship, and examine all goods on board, and all goods then lading or unlading, and demand all documents which ought to be on board such ship, and may require all or any such documents to be brought to him for inspection, and the master of any ship refusing to produce such documents on demand, or to bring the same to the collector or other proper officer when required, shall forfeit the sum of twenty pounds.
If the master of any ship bringing any goods not liable to duty coastwise from one port of the United Kingdom to another shall desire to proceed with such goods or any of them to parts beyond the seas, he may, subject to such regulations as the Commissioners of Customs may see fit, enter such ship and goods outwards for the intended voyage without first landing the same.