Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act, 1952

Miscellaneous Provisions for Furthering Safety of Life at Sea.

Information about ship's stability.

32.—(1) There shall be carried on board every ship registered in the State whose keel is laid after the commencement of this Act such information in writing about the ship's stability as is necessary for the guidance of the master in loading and ballasting the ship.

(2) The said information shall be in such a form as may be approved by the Minister (who may approve the provision of the information in the form of a diagram or drawing only), and shall be based on the determination of the ship's stability by means of an inclining test of the ship or, if the Minister so allows, on a similar determination of the stability of a sister ship.

(3) When any information under this section is provided for any ship, the owner shall, unless a previous copy of the same information has been sent to the Minister, send a copy thereof to the Minister.

(4) If any such ship proceeds, or attempts to proceed, to sea without such information as aforesaid on board, the owner or master of the ship shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and if the owner of any ship contravenes subsection (3) of this section, he shall be guilty of a like offence and be liable to a like fine.

(5) It is hereby declared that for the purposes of section 258 of the Principal Act (which requires documents relating to navigation to be delivered by the master of a ship to his successor) information under this section shall be deemed to be a document relating to the navigation of the ship.