Merchant Shipping Act 1894

Certificate of Registry.

14Certificate of registry.

On completion of the registry of a ship, the registrar shall grant a certificate of registry comprising the particulars respecting her entered in the register book, with the name of her master.

15Custody of certificate.

(1)The certificate of registry shall be used only for the lawful navigation of the ship, and shall not be subject to detention by reason of any title, lien, charge, or interest whatever had or claimed by any owner, mortgagee, or other person to, on, or in the ship.

(2)If any person, whether interested in the ship or not, refuses on request to deliver up the certificate of registry when in his possession or under his control to the person entitled to the custody thereof for the purposes of the lawful navigation of the ship, or to any registrar, officer of customs, or other person entitled bylaw to require such delivery, any justice by warrant under his hand and seal, or any court capable of taking cognizance of the matter, may summon the person so refusing to appear before such justice or court, and to be examined touching such refusal, and unless it is proved to the satisfaction of such justice or court that there was reasonable cause for such refusal, the offender shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, but if it is shown to such justice or court that the certificate is lost, the person summoned shall be discharged, and the justice or court shall certify that the certificate of registry is lost.

(3)If the person so refusing is proved to have absconded so that the warrant of a justice or process of a court cannot be served on him, or if he persists in not delivering up the certificate, the justice or court shall certify the fact, and the same proceedings may then be taken as in the case of a certificate mislaid, lost, or destroyed, or as near thereto as circumstances permit.

16Penalty for use of improper certificate.

If the master or owner of a ship uses or attempts to use for her navigation a certificate of registry not legally granted in respect of the ship, he shall, in respect of each offence, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and the ship shall be subject to forfeiture under this Act.

17Power to grant new certificate.

The registrar of the port of registry of a ship may, with the approval of the Commissioners of Customs, and on the delivery up to him of the certificate of registry of a ship, grant a new certificate in lieu thereof.

18Provision for loss of certificate.

(1)In the event of the certificate of registry of a ship being mislaid, lost, or destroyed, the registrar of her port of registry shall grant a new certificate of registry in lieu of her original certificate.

(2)If the port (having a British registrar or consular officer) at which the ship is at the time of the event, or first arrives after the event—

(a)is not in the United Kingdom, where the ship is registered in the United Kingdom ; or,

(b)is not in the British possession in which the ship is registered; or,

(c)where the ship is registered at a port of registry established by Order in Council under this Act, is not that port;

then the master of the ship, or some other person having knowledge of the facts of the case, shall make a declaration stating the facts of the case, and the names and descriptions of the registered owners of such ship to the best of the declarant's knowledge and belief, and the registrar or consular officer, as the case may be, shall thereupon grant a provisional certificate, containing a statement of the circumstances under which it is granted.

(3)The provisional certificate shall within ten days after the first subsequent arrival of the ship at her port of discharge in the United Kingdom, where she is registered in the United Kingdom, or in the British possession in which she is registered, or where she is registered at a port of registry established by Order in Council under this Act at that port, be delivered up to the registrar of her port of registry, and the registrar shall thereupon grant the new certificate of registry; and if the master without reasonable cause fails to deliver up the provisional certificate within the ten days aforesaid, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

19Endorsement of change of master on certificate.

Where the master of a registered British ship is changed, each of the following persons; (that is to say,)

(a)if the change is made in consequence of the sentence of a naval court, the presiding officer of that court; and

(b)if the change is made in consequence of the removal of the master by a court under Part VI. of this Act, the proper officer of that court; and

(c)if the change occurs from any other cause, the registrar, or if there is none the British consular officer, at the port where the change occurs,

shall endorse and sign on the certificate of registry a memorandum of the change, and shall forthwith report the change to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen; and any officer of customs at any port in Her Majesty's dominions may refuse to admit any person to do any act there as master of a British ship unless his name is inserted in or endorsed on her certificate of registry as her last appointed master..

20Endorsement of change of ownership on certificate.

(1)Whenever a change occurs in the registered ownership of a ship, the change of ownership shall be endorsed on her certificate of registry either by the registrar of the ship's port of registry, or by the registrar of any port at which the ship arrives who has been advised of the change by the registrar of the ship's port of registry.

(2)The master shall, for the purpose of such endorsement by the registrar of the ship's port of registry, deliver the certificate of registry to the registrar, forthwith after the change if the change occurs when the ship is at her port of registry, and if it occurs during her absence from that port and the endorsement under this section is not made before her return then upon her first return to that port.

(3)The registrar of any port, not being the ship's port of registry, who is required to make an endorsement under this section may for that purpose require the master of the ship to deliver to him the ship's certificate of registry, so that the ship be not thereby detained, and the master shall deliver the same accordingly.

(4)If the master fails to deliver to the registrar the certificate of registry as required by this section he shall, for each offence, be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

21Delivery up of certificate of ship lost or ceasing to be British owned.

(1)In the event of a registered ship being either actually or constructively lost, taken by the enemy, burnt, or broken up, or ceasing by reason of a transfer to persons not qualified to be owners of British ships, or otherwise, to be a British ship, every owner of the ship or any share in the ship shall, immediately on obtaining knowledge of the event, if no notice thereof has already been given to the registrar, give notice thereof to the registrar at her port of registry, and that registrar shall make an entry thereof in the register book.

(2)In any such case, except where the ship's certificate of registry is lost or destroyed, the master of the ship shall, if the event occurs in port immediately, but if it occurs elsewhere then within ten days after his arrival in port, deliver the certificate to the registrar, or, if there is none, to the British consular officer there, and the registrar, if he is not himself the registrar of her port of registry, or the British consular officer, shall forthwith forward the certificate delivered to him to the registrar of her port of registry.

(3)If any such owner or master fails, without reasonable cause, to comply with this section, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds.

22Provisional certificate for ships becoming British-owned abroad.

(1)If at a port not within Her Majesty's dominions and not being a port of registry established by Order in Council under this Act, a ship becomes the property of persons qualified to own a British ship, the British consular officer there may grant to her master, on his application, a provisional certificate, stating—

(a)the name of the ship ;

(b)the time and place of her purchase, and the names of her purchasers;

(c)the name of her master; and

(d)the best particulars respecting her tonnage, build, and description which he is able to obtain;

and shall forward a copy of the certificate at the first convenient opportunity to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen.

(2)Such a provisional certificate shall have the effect of a certificate of registry until the expiration of six months from its date, or until the ship's arrival at a port where there is a registrar (whichever first happens), and on either of those events happening shall cease to have effect.

23Temporary passes in lieu of certificates of registry.

Where it appears to the Commissioners of Customs, or to the governor of a British possession, that by reason of special circumstances it would be desirable that permission should be granted to any British ship to pass, without being previously registered, from any port in Her Majesty's dominions to any other port within Her Majesty's dominions, the Commissioners or the governor may grant a pass accordingly, and that pass shall, for the time and within the limits therein mentioned, have the same effect as a certificate of registry.