The property in every ship is, for purposes of registration, divided into, sixty-four shares. No person is entitled to be registered as owner of any- fractional part of a share; - but any number of persons not exceeding five may be registered as joint-owners of a share. Counting joint-owners, who are not entitled to dispose in severalty of their respective interests, as constituting one person only, not more than thirty-two persons can be regis tered at the same time as owners of a ship. The power of disposing of the ship or its shares is vested exclusively in reg,istered owners. Notwitlistandino. this, persons bene ficially or equitably interested are to have their interests protectedupon application to the proper court. When a registered ship, or any share therein, is disposed of to persons qualified to be owners of British ships, the transfer must be made by a bill of sale under seal, according to a fortn prescribed, a.nd the names of the transferees are to be entered on the register as owners of the ship or share. Mortgages also must be in a form pre scribed, and are to be recorded by the registrar upon production to him in each case of the mortgage deed.
In part III., under the heading "masters and seamen," it is provided that local , marine boards shall be established at certain ports of the United Kingdom; and that each of these shall consist of 2 ea, officio members—the mayor or provost, and the stipen diary magistrate of the place--4 members appointed by the board of trade, and 6 elected annually by the owners of foreign-,going ships and of home-trade passenger-ships. The local marine board is required to establish an office (called the shipping office in the act of 1854, but now, under the act of 1862, called the mercantile marine office) or offices, under the management of a superintendent (originally called shipping-mastei$ whose duty- it is to affordjacilities for engaging seamen, by keeping registries of their names and chameter; to sliperintend and facilitate their engagement and discharge; to provide means for securing the presence on board at the proper time of men who tire so engaged; to facilitate the making of apprentice-ships to the sea-service; and to perform such other dutie.s relating to merchant-seamen and merchant-ships as shall be committed to them by the board of trade. The local marine boards are also required to hold examinations for persons who intend to become masters or mates of foreign-going ships. or home-trade passenger-ships. And no person can be employed in a foreign-going ship as master, or first, or second, or only mate, or in a home-trade passenger-ship as master, or first or only 'nate, unless he holds a certificate of competency obtained at such an'examination; or else a certificate of service obtained in virtue of his having held a certain rank in the royal navy, or, certain employment iu the merchant service previous to the passing of the act of 1854, as specified in the act. The act of 1862 extended the requirement of a certificate from the board of trade to engineers employed in steamships. There are first
and second Class engineers' eertifieates, and au engineer cannot be employed unless he holds the one or the other—according to his employment and the engine-power of the ship—obtained at an examination, or else in consideration of his service previous to 1862, or of the rank he has held in the royal navy.
The master of every ship, excepting ships of less than 80 tons burden, exclusively employed in the coasting-trade, is required to enter into an agreement—in a form pre scribed by the board of trade--with every seaman whom he takes to sea from any- part of the United Kingdom. This document, which must be signed by the master and by the seamen, sets forth the nature and duration of the voyage ; the number and descrip tion of the erew; the time at which bach seaman is to be on board, or to begin work; the capacity in which he is to serve; the amount of his wages; a scale of provisions; regulations as to conduct; and such punishments for misconduct as the board of trade shall have sanctioned, and as the parties shall have agreed to adopt. In the case of foreign-going ships, the agreement must be made before, and be attested by the superin tendent of the mercantile marine office; and seamen engaged abroad must be engaged, if at a colonial port, in the presence of a shipping-master or customs officer; if at a foreign port, iu the presence of the consul. The discharge of the crews of foreign-going ships must be made at the mercantile marine office before the superintendent, to whom the ship master must deliver a full account of the wages due to each seaman, and of all deduc tions made from them. It is enacted that no right to wages shall be dependent on the earning of freight; and that every stipulation on the part of the seaman for abandoning his right to wages in the event of the loss of the ship, shall be inoperative. Previous to , 1872, time a,greements with seamen in home-trade ships could not be made for a longer period than 6 months. This provision was repealed by the act of that year. The act of ? 1873 provided that in an agreement with seamen, it should only be necessary to state the maximum period which the agreement is to cover, and the places or parts of the world, if anv, to which the voya,Te is not to extend. Some provision was made in the act of 1854 as to the amount of space to be set apart for the accommodation of every seaman, as to the maintenance of the sleeping-placss in a proper state Of order and ventilation, and as to the supply of medicines for the voyage; but the clauses of that act relating to these subjects have been repealed, and fuller provision for them has been made by the act of 1867. ln this act, special precautions have been taken to insure that ships take to sea with tliem a sufficient supply of lime-juice and other anti-scorbutics; and the local marine boards are empowered to appoint medical inspectors to examine seamen applying for employment, if the ship-master desires it.