Merchant Shipping Act 1950

2 After the said section one hundred and fifteen, the following section shall be inserted:—

“115A Special provisions as to agreements with crew of certain home trade ships.

—The following provisions shall have effect with respect to the agreements with the crew made in the United Kingdom in the case of home trade ships having a gross tonnage of two hundred tons or more (not being ships engaged exclusively on the work of any harbour, pilotage or local authority):—

(1) the agreement shall (subject to the provisions of this Act as to substitutes) be signed by each seaman in the presence of a superintendent:

(2) the superintendent shall cause the agreement to be read over and explained to each seaman, or otherwise ascertain that each seaman understands the same before he signs it, and shall attest each signature: .

(3) when the crew is first engaged the agreement shall be signed in duplicate, and one part shall be retained by the superintendent, and the other shall be delivered to the master, and shall contain a special place or form for the descriptions and signatures of substitutes or persons engaged subsequently to the first departure of the ship:

(4) where a substitute is engaged in the place of a seaman who duly signed the agreement, and whose services are within twenty-four hours of the ship's putting to sea lost by death, desertion, or other unforeseen cause, the engagement shall, when practicable, be made before a superintendent, and, when not practicable, the master shall, before the ship puts to sea, if practicable, and if not, as soon afterwards as possible, cause the agreement to be read over and explained to the substitute, and the substitute shall thereupon sign the same in the presence of a witness and the witness shall attest the signature:

(5) agreements may be made either for service in a particular ship or for service in two or more ships -belonging to the same owner, but in the latter case the names of the ships and the nature of the service shall be specified in the agreement:

(6) an agreement for service in two or more ships belonging to the same owner may be made by the owner instead of by the master; and the provisions of this Act with respect to the making of the agreement shall apply accordingly:

(7) an agreement with the crew of the ship shall not extend beyond the expiration of the period of six months from the date of the agreement, or the time at which the ship first arrives at her final port of destination in the United Kingdom after the expiration of that period, or the discharge of cargo consequent on that arrival:

Provided that, if there is no superintendent at the said final port of destination, the agreement may extend until the first arrival of the ship after that time at a port in the United Kingdom at which there is a superintendent, or the discharge of cargo consequent on that arrival:

(8) on every return to a port in the United Kingdom before the final termination of an agreement, the master shall, if any engagements or discharges of sea-, men have been made, make on the agreement an endorsement that they have all been made as required by law, and if a master wilfully makes a false statement in any such endorsement or if he omits to make an endorsement which he' is required to make under this paragraph, he shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds:

(9) the duplicate agreement retained by the superintendent on the first engagement of the crew shall either be transmitted to the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen immediately, or kept by the superintendent until the expiration of the agreement, as the Minister of Transport directs.”