Merchant Shipping Act 1995

75 Recovery of expenses incurred for relief and return, etc

(1) Where any expenses are incurred in respect of any matter for which the employers of a seaman are required to make provision under section 73, then—

(a) if the expenses are incurred by the Secretary of State, or are incurred by the government of any country outside the United Kingdom and repaid to them on behalf of the Crown, the Secretary of State may recover them from the employers;

(b) if the expenses are incurred by the seaman he may recover them from the employers unless they prove either that under the terms of his employment they were to be borne by him or that he would not have been left behind but for his own wrongful act or neglect.

(2) Where, in the case of any seaman, expenses are incurred by the Secretary of State or are incurred by the government of any country outside the United Kingdom and repaid to them on behalf of the Crown—

(a) in respect of any matter for which, but for section 74, the seaman’s last employers would have been required to make provision under section 73; or

(b) in respect of any matter for which provision is required to be made under section 73(4)(b);

the Secretary of State may recover them from the seaman (or, if he has died, from his personal representatives).