Merchant Shipping (Stevedores and Trimmers) Act, 1911

MERCHANT SHIPPING (STEVEDORES AND TRIMMERS) ACT 1911

CHAPTER 41.

An Act to enlarge the Remedies of Persons having claims for work done in connection with the stowing or discharging of ships’ cargoes or the trimming of coal on board ships. [16th December 1911.]

BE it enacted by the King'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:

Power to arrest($$$) ship on claim for work done in stowing cargo, &c.

57 & 58 Vict. c. 60.

1.(1) If it is claimed that any sum is due to any person from the owners of a ship for work done at any place in the United Kingdom by that person in connection with the stowing or discharging of cargoes on board or from that ship, or the trimming of coal on board that ship, and that ship is at any time found in any place in England or Ireland or within three miles of the coast thereof, a judge of any court of record in England or Ireland may, upon its being shown to him by any person applying in accordance with rules of court that primâ facie the claim against the owners is a good claim and that none of the owners reside in the United Kingdom, issue an order for the arrest of the ship.

(2) An order under this Act shall be directed to some officer of customs and excise, or some other officer named in the order, and shall require him to detain the ship until such time as satisfaction has been made by the owners, agent, master, or consignee thereof in respect of the claim, or until security, to be approved by the judge, has been given by them or him, to abide the event of any action, suit, or other legal proceeding that may be instituted in respect of the claim, and to pay all costs and damages that may be awarded thereon, and where any such order is made, the officer to whom the order is directed shall detain the ship accordingly.

(3) In any legal proceedings in relation to any such claim as aforesaid, the person giving security shall be made defendant, and shall be stated to be the owner of the ship in respect of which the work giving rise to the claim was done, and the production of the order of the judge, made in relation to the security, shall be conclusive evidence of the liability of the defendant to the proceedings.

(4) Where a complaint is made to the Board of Trade that, before an application can be made under this section, the ship in respect of which the application is to be made will have departed from the limits of England or Ireland or three miles from the coast thereof, the ship shall, if the Board so direct, be detained for such time as will allow the application to be made and the result thereof to be communicated to the officer detaining the ship, and that officer shall not be liable for any costs or damages in respect of the detention if made in accordance with the directions of the Board.

(5) Section six hundred and ninety-two of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, shall apply to the detention of a ship under this Act as it applies to the detention of a ship under that Act.

(6) If the owner of a ship is a corporation, the owner shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to reside in the United Kingdom if the corporation has an office in the United Kingdom at which service of writs can be effected.

Application of Act where a ship is demised to charterers.

2. Where a ship has been demised to charterers, the provisions of this Act shall apply to claims against the charterers of the ship as they apply to claims against the owners of a ship, with the substitution of charterers for owners:

Provided that no ship shall be detained on a claim against the charterers of the ship after the expiration of the term for which the ship was demised to them.

Proceedings in Admiralty.

3. Any person having a claim to which this Act applies may, if he so desires, instead of proceeding under the foregoing provisions of this Act institute proceedings in Admiralty for enforcing the claim, and all courts having jurisdiction in Admiralty shall, if proceedings are so instituted, have the same jurisdiction for the purpose of enforcing the claim as if the claim were a claim for necessaries supplied to the ship.

Saving.

4. Nothing in this Act shall affect the power of any person to enforce any claim to which this Act applies otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Short title.

5. This Act may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Stevedores and Trimmers) Act, 1911.