SAFETY OF ships.—If any person sends -or attempts to send, or is party to sending or attempting to send, a British ship to sea in such an unseaworthy state that the life of any person is likely to be thereby endangered, Ile is, in respect of each offence, guilty of a misdemeanour, unless he proves either that he used all reasonable means to insure her being sent to sea in a seaworthy state, or that her going to sea in an unseaworthy state was under the circumstances reasonable and justifiable. For the purpose of such proof he may give evidence in the same manner as any other witness. There is a similar provision with regard to the master of a ship. If he knowingly takes her to sea in such an unseaworthy state that the life of any person is likely to be thereby endangered, he is in respect of each offence guilty of a misdemeanour, unless he produces such proof as aforesaid. A prosecution, except in Scotland, cannot be instituted otherwise than by, or with the consent of, the Board of Trade or the governor of the British possession in which the prosecution takes pface. The offence is not punishable upon summary conviction. The foregoing provisions do not apply to ships employed exclusively in trading or going from place to place in rivers or inland waters in any British possession. In every contract of service, express or implied, between the owner of a ship and the master or any seaman thereof, and in every instrument of sea apprenticeship, there is implied, notwithstand ing any agreement to the contrary, an obligation on the owner that he and the master and every agent charged with preparing and loading the ship and sending her to sea shall use all reasonable means to insure her seaworthiness for the voyage at the time when the voyage commences, and will keep her in a seaworthy condition during the continuance of the voyage. But this does not subject the owner to any liability by reason of the ship being sent to sea in an unseaworthy state where, owing to special circumstances, the sending of the ship to sea in such a state was reasonable and- justifiable ; and it does not apply to a ship employed exclusively in trading or going from place to place in a river or inland water in any British possession. Where a British ship being in any port in the United Kingdom is an unsafe ship, that is to say, is by reason of the defective condition of her hull, equipments, or machinery, or by reason of overloading or improper loading, unfit to proceed to sea without serious danger to human life, having regard to the nature of the service for which she is intended, such ship may be provisionally detained'for the purpose of being surveyed. The ship is so detained (or released) under the following conditions :—(a) The Board of Trade, if they have reason to believe that she is unsafe, may order her to be provisionally detained as an unsafe ship for the purpose of being surveyed. (b) When she has been pro visionally detained there must be forthwith served on the master a written statement of the grounds of her detention, and the Board of Trade may appoint some competent person to survey her and report thereon. (c) The Board on receiving the report may either order her to be released, or if in their opinion the ship is unsafe, may order her to be finally detained, either absolutely or until the performance of such conditions with respect to the execution of repairs or alterations, or the unloading or reloading of cargo, as the Board think necessary for the protection of human life; and the Board may vary or acid to any such order. (d) Before the order for final detention is made a copy of the report must be served upon the master, and within seven days after that service the owner or master may appeal to the court of survey for the port or district where the ship is detained. (e) Where a
ship has been provisionally detained the owner or master of the ship at any time before the person appointed to survey the ship makes that Jurvey, may require that he shall be accompanied by such person as the. owner or master may select out of the list of assessors for the court of survey, and in that case, if the surveyor and assessor agree, the Board of Trade will cause the ship to be detained or released accordingly ; but if they differ, the Board may act as if the requisition had not been made, and the owner and master have the like appeal, touching the report of the surveyor, as is provided by section 445 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894. Where a ship has been provisionally detained the Board may at any time refer the matter to the court of survey for the port or district where the ship is detained. The Board may at any time, if satisfied that a ship so detained is not unsafe, order her to be released either upon or without conditions. Any person appointed by the Board for the purpose (called the " detaining officer ") has the same power as the Board haye of ordering the provisional detention of a ship for the purpose of being surveyed and of appointing persons to survey her, and may order her release. A detaining officer is required forthwith to report to the Board of Trade any order made by him for the detention or release of a ship. An order for the detention of a ship, provisional or final, and an order varying the same, must be served on the master as soon as possible. A detaining officer and a person authorised to survey a ship have for that purpose the same power as a person appointed by a court of survey to survey a ship, and the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, with respect to the person so appointed apply accordingly. If it appears that there was not reasonable and probable cause, by reason of the condition of the ship or the act or wilful default of the owner, for the provisional detention of a ship as an unseaworthy ship, the Board of Trade is liable to pay to the owner his costs and also compensation. If a ship is finally detained, or if it appears that a ship provisionally detained was at the time of that detention an unsafe ship, the owner of the ship is liable to pay to the Board of Trade their costs of and incidental to the detention and survey of the ship, and those costs are recoverable as salvage is recoverable. For these purposes the costs of and incidental to any proceed ing before any court of survey, and a reasonable amount in respect of the surveyor or officer of the Board of Trade, are considered as part of the costs of the detention and survey of the ship. Any dispute as to the amount of those costs may be referred to one of the officers following, namely, in England or Ireland to one of the masters or registrars of the High Court, and in Scotland to the auditor of' the Court of Session, and this officer will ascertain and certify the proper amount of those costs. An action for any costs or compensation so payable by the Board of Trade may be brought against the secretary of that Board, as if he were a corporation sole ; and if the cause of action arises in Ireland, and the action is brought in the High Court, that court may order that the summons or writ be served on the Crown and Treasury Solicitor for Ireland in such manner and on such terms as the court thinks fit, and that that service shall be sufficient service thereof upon the secretary of the Board.