Merchant Shipping Act 1979

30 Record of certain deaths on ships etc.

(1) At the end of subsection (1) of section 72 of the [1970 c. 36.] Merchant Shipping Act 1970 (of which paragraph (a) enables regulations to be made requiring the master of a ship registered in the United Kingdom to make a return of any death occurring in the ship and of the death outside the United Kingdom of any person employed in the ship) there shall be inserted the words ; and

(c) requiring the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen to record such information as may be specified in the regulations about such a death as is mentioned in paragraph (a) above in a case where it appears to him that the master of the ship cannot perform the duty imposed on him by virtue of that paragraph in respect of the death because he has himself died or is incapacitated or missing and either—

(i) the death in question has been the subject of an inquest held by the coroner or an inquiry held in pursuance of section 61 of this Act or in pursuance of the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976 and the findings of the inquest or inquiry include a finding that the death occurred, or

(ii) a post-mortem examination, or a preliminary investigation in Northern Ireland, has been made of the deceased's body and in consequence the coroner is satisfied that an inquest is unnecessary, or

(iii) in Scotland, it does not appear to the Lord Advocate, under section 1(1)(b) of the said Act of 1976, to be expedient in the public interest that an inquiry under that Act should be held.;

and in subsection (2) of that section (which enables regulations to require a certified copy of a return under that section to be sent to the appropriate Registrar General concerned with the registration of deaths) after the word "return" there shall be inserted the words " or record ".

(2) Where—

(a) an inquest is held on a dead body or touching a death or a post-mortem examination, or a preliminary investigation in Northern Ireland, is made of a dead body as a result of which the coroner is satisfied that an inquest is unnecessary; and

(b) it appears to the coroner that the death in question is such as is mentioned in paragraph (a) of section 72(1) of the [1970 c. 36.] Merchant Shipping Act 1970 or in that paragraph as extended (with or without amendments) by virtue of section 92 of that Act,

it shall be the duty of the coroner to send to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen particulars in respect of the deceased of a kind prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State.