ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I
PRELIMINARY

SECTION

PART II
REGISTRATION, ETC., OF SHIPS

Registration

Certificate of Registry

Transfers and Transmissions

Mortgages

Name of Ship

Registration of Alterations and Registration Anew

Incapacitated Persons

Trusts and equitable Rights

Liability of Beneficial Owner

Managing Owner

Declarations, Inspection of Register and Fees

Forms

Forgery and False Declarations

Nationality and Flag

Measurement of Ship and Tonnage

PART III
MASTER AND SEAMAN

Certificates of Competency

Apprenticeship to the Sea Service

Engagement of Seamen

Employment of Children and Young Persons as Seamen

Certification of Seamen

Discharge of Seamen

Payment of Wages

Advance and Allotment of Wages

Rights of Seamen in respect of Wages

Vacation Leave and Public Holidays

Mode of Recovering Wages

Power of Court to Rescind Contracts

Property of Deceased Seamen

Provisions, Health and Accommodation

Facilities for Making Complaints

Protection of Seamen from Imposition

Discipline

Official Log-Books

Returns and Delivery of Documents

Relief and Repatriation of Distressed Seamen and Seamen left behind Abroad

PART IV
PASSENGER SHIPS

PART V
SAFETY

Inspectors

Inspection for Safety ......

Safety Regulations ......

Issue of Certificates ......

Proceeding to Sea ......

General Safety Precautions and Responsibilities

Prevention of Collisions

International Convention on Safe Containers

Load Lines and Loading

Load Line Convention Ships not Registered in The Bahamas ......

Deck Cargo ......

Carriage of Grain ......

Dangerous Goods

Unseaworthy Ships

Miscellaneous Matters

PART VI
WRECKS, SALVAGE AND INVESTIGATIONS

Receiver of Wreck

Dealing with Wreck

Removal of Wrecks

Salvage

Shipping Casualties, Inquiries and Investigations

PART VII
LIMITATION AND DIVISION OF LIABILITY

Limitation of Liability

Division of Liability

PART VIII
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Offences

Jurisdiction

Damage Occasioned by Foreign Ships

Reciprocal Jurisdiction and Jurisdiction over Foreign Ships

Inquiry into Cause of Death

Depositions in Legal Proceedings

Detention of Ship and Distress on Ship

Evidence, Service of Documents and Declarations

Protection of Officers

Limitation of Actions in Civil Proceedings

PART IX
MARITIME LIENS

PART X
SUPPLEMENTAL

SCHEDULES

FIRST SCHEDULE - International Conventions.

SECOND SCHEDULE - Applied Regulations, etc.

THIRD SCHEDULE - Provisions having effect in connection with SOLAS 74/88 and SOLAS 60.

FOURTH SCHEDULE - Provisions having effect in connection with the Load Line Convention.

CHAPTER 268

MERCHANT SHIPPING

[Assent 29th November, 1976]
[Commencement 31st December, 1976]

"allotment note" means a note mentioned in section 96;

"apprentice" means an apprentice to the sea service;

"approved" means approved by the Director;

"Bahamian ship" means a ship for the time being registered as a Bahamian ship under section 3;

"Bahamian waters" means all areas of water subject to the jurisdiction of The Bahamas, and includes territorial waters, internal waters and archipelagic waters;

"bareboat chartered" means leased without master and crew and for a given period of time;

"certificate of competency" means a certificate issued to a person under Part III showing his competency as a master or a seaman, and includes a licence issued under section 69;

"certificate of registry", in relation to a Bahamian ship, means the certificate granted under section 16 in respect of that ship;

"Classification Society" means a society nominated as such under subsection (2) of section 66;

"consular officer" means a person appointed to be, or to perform the functions of, a Bahamian consular officer in a foreign country;

"contravene", in relation to any provision, includes a failure to comply with that provision;

"the Court" means the Supreme Court exercising its admiralty jurisdiction;

"crew agreement" means an agreement between the master of a ship and the crew thereof entered into in pursuance of section 80;

"customs officer" means any public officer assigned to customs duties in the Customs Department of Government;

"the director" means the Director of Maritime Affairs appointed under The Bahamas Maritime Authority Act, 1995;

"foreign country" means any country or place other than The Bahamas and "foreign port" shall be construed accordingly;

"foreign-going ship" means a ship employed in voyages beyond the limits of a home-trade voyage;

"foreign ship" means a ship which is registered under the law of a foreign country;

"Government" means the Government of The Bahamas;

"Government ship" means a ship or vessel that is owned by and is in the service of the Government;

"gross tonnage" is the gross tonnage stated in the certificate of registry of a ship, or, where a ship is not registered, the figure found in accordance with the rules for the time being in force for the measurement of ships in respect of tonnage;

"home-trade ship" means a ship employed solely in the home-trade;

"home-trade voyage" means the carriage of goods or passengers on a sea voyage solely from any place on the coast of The Bahamas to any other place or places in The Bahamas or to another place or places on the coast of East Florida between the limits of Jupiter Inlet in the north to Key West in the South;

"inspector" means the Director, a surveyor and a Nautical Inspector appointed under section 169;

"international voyage" means a voyage from a port in one country to a port in another country;

"master" includes every person (except a pilot) having command or charge of a seaplane or other craft when it is on or in close proximity to the water;

"Minister" means the Minister for the time being responsible for Maritime Affairs;

"motor ship" includes a steamship and any other ship propelled by machinery, but not a sailing ship;

"official logbook" means the logbook kept in respect of a ship under section 143;

"original registrar", in relation to a Bahamian ship or its certificate of registry, means the registrar by whom the ship was first registered and the certificate first issued, or his successor in office;

"owner" as applied to an unregistered vessel means the actual owner, and as applied to a registered ship means the registered owner;

"Part" means a Part of this Act;

"passenger" means any person carried on a ship other than-

"passenger ship" means a ship carrying or capable of carrying more than twelve passengers;

"pilot" means any person not belonging to a ship who has the conduct thereof;

"port" includes a port or harbour properly so called, whether natural or artificial, estuaries, navigable rivers, piers, jetties or other works in or at which ships can obtain shelter, or ship or unship goods or passengers;

"port authority" means the person or authority responsible for the provision of port facilities in any port;

"proper officer", in relation to any function, means any officer appointed to perform, and engaged in the performance of, that function;

"proper return port" has the meaning assigned thereto by section 162;

"provisional certificate of registry" in relation to a Bahamian ship, means the certificate granted under section 26 in respect of that ship;

"receiver" means a receiver of wreck appointed under section 216;

"register" means a register of Bahamian ships kept under the provisions of this Act, and "registered" shall be construed accordingly;

"register tonnage", in relation to a ship, means the net register tonnage shown or to be shown on the certificate of registry and ascertained in accordance with the tonnage regulations;

"registrar" means-

"sailing ship" means a ship having sufficient sail area to be capable of being navigated under sail, whether fitted with mechanical means of propulsion or not;

"seaman" includes every person (except a master or pilot or an apprentice duly contracted or indentured and registered) employed or engaged in any capacity on board any ship;

"section" means a section of this Act;

"ship" includes every description of vessel used in navigation which is not propelled by oars, and in Parts II and VII includes every description of lighter, barge or like vessel however propelled;

"shipping casualty" means an event specified in subsection (1) of section 241;

"short international voyage" means an international voyage-

"surveyor" means a person appointed or authorized under section 66 to survey and measure ships;

"tonnage regulations" means the regulations made under subsection (1) of section 63;

"vessel" includes any ship or boat, or any other description of vessel used in navigation;

"wages" includes emoluments;

"wreck" includes flotsam, jetsam, lagan, and derelict found in, or on the shores of, the sea or of any tidal water; the whole or any portion of a ship lost, abandoned, stranded, or in distress; any portion of the cargo, stores or equipment of such a ship; and any portion of the personal property on board such a ship when it was lost, stranded, abandoned or in distress; but does not include wreck to which the Abandoned Wreck Act applies;

"wreck commissioner" means a person appointed as such under subsection (1) of section 243.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, any ship may, regardless of the nationality of her owners, register as a Bahamian ship if she is a ship of 1600 or more net register tonnage and is engaged in the foreign-going trade:

Provided that subject as aforesaid where a ship is-

and would be registered but for being less than 1600 net register tonnage the Minister may approve of the registration of that ship if it is owned otherwise than as mentioned in subsection (1).

(3) No ship shall be first registered otherwise than by, or with the permission of, the Minister if the completion of her first construction occurred more than twelve years before the commencement of the year in which application for registration is first made under this Act, and the Minister may refuse to register, or allow the registration of, any such ship.

(4) A ship registered under the law of a foreign country shall on application, if she is bareboat chartered to any citizen of The Bahamas or to any body corporate established under the laws of The Bahamas, in addition to being registered under the law of that foreign country, be registered for the period of the bareboat charter as a Bahamian ship and the registrar shall notify the proper officer of that foreign country of such registration as a Bahamian ship.

(5)        Any ship that is under construction whose keel has been laid-

may be temporarily registered as "a ship being built" and sections 7 to 9 shall not apply in the case of such a ship.

(6) Any ship of 1600 or more net tonnage, which is not a ship to which subsection (1) applies, may regardless of the nationality of her owners be registered as a home-trade ship with the express permission of the Minister.

(7) For the purposes of this Part, "ship" includes any structure capable of use in a marine environment which the Director or registrar may consider appropriate for registration as a ship.

(2) The Minister may appoint a Deputy Director of Maritime Affairs or such other person as the Minister considers fit to be a registrar of Bahamian ships at any port, whether within or outside The Bahamas.

(3) The register kept by a registrar appointed under subsection (2) shall contain the particulars, required to be entered in a register by this Act, in respect of all ships registered by the registrar and, if the Director so requires, of all ships registered by any other registrar.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, where a ship which is not registered as a Bahamian ship has been measured and registered as a foreign ship, or has already been measured without having been so registered, the surveyor may, for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, accept and use any suitable figures of measurement contained in the latest register relating to that ship, or, in the case of an unregistered ship, in the latest certificate of measurement relating to that ship.

(3) Before acting under subsection (2) of this section, a surveyor shall satisfy himself that there have been no changes of measurement since the making of the register or certificate which he proposes to use, and where any such changes have been made, he shall measure the ship to the extent made necessary by those changes.

(2) The Minister may exempt any class of ship from all or any requirement of this section.

(3) The marks required by this section shall be permanently continued, and no alteration shall be made therein, except in the event of any of the particulars thereby denoted being altered in accordance with this Act.

(4) If he is satisfied that a ship is insufficiently or inaccurately marked, an inspector may suspend the certificate or registry of the ship until the insufficiency or inaccuracy has been remedied to his satisfaction.

Provided that a registrar may accept a telex confirmation of an agent's authority if no written authorization is produced.

Provided that the Minister may direct that the requirements of the foregoing subparagraphs be waived upon it being shown to his satisfaction that the owner has attempted to comply with obtaining such documents but that due to wholly exceptional and abnormal circumstances prevailing in that foreign country inordinate delay has occurred due to reasons beyond the control of the owner, but subject to any direction as to the production of such other like document as the Minister may further direct;

and if the registrar is not the Director he shall forthwith transmit a copy of the entry to the Director.

Provided that when a ship is first registered after 31st January in any year, the annual fee payable for that year shall be calculated at the rate of one twelfth of the annual fee for that ship for each complete month in that year in which the ship is a registered ship.

(3) The Minister may by order or regulations prescribe registration and annual fees and may make different provisions for different descriptions of a ship or for ships of the same description in different circumstances.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, no registration fee or annual fee shall be payable for any ship of 500 net register tons or less which is registered under subsection (1) of section 3 and which is also registered under the Boat Registration Act or the Water Skiing and Motor Boat Act, or licensed under the Port Authorities Act.

(5) Where, in the certificate of measurement of a ship, more than one net registered tonnage is specified, the registration fee and the annual fee shall be calculated by reference to the greatest of those tonnages.

(6) Where a ship has been remeasured and the tonnage ascertained and registered as a result of the remeasurement the new tonnage shall form the basis of calculation of the annual fee.

(7) The Minister may by Order vary any fee prescribed in this section.

he considers that it would be inappropriate for the ship to be registered;

Provided that this paragraph shall not apply to a Bahamian ship that is bareboat chartered and registered under the laws of a foreign country for the duration of the charter if the registrar has been notified by the proper officer of that foreign country and the registrar has given his permission for such foreign registration under section 25;

(2) Where a registrar has terminated registration under paragraph (a) of subsection (1), he must, and in all other cases, he may-

(3) On receipt of a closure transcript the owner must immediately surrender the ship's certificate of registry to the registrar for cancellation.

(2) The master shall, for the purpose of such endorsement by a registrar, deliver the certificate of registry to the registrar as soon as practicable after the change occurs.

(3) A registrar who is required to make an endorsement under this section may for that purpose require the master of the ship to deliver to him the ship's certificate of registry, so that however, the ship be not thereby detained, and the master shall deliver the same accordingly.

(2) In any such case as is provided for in subsection (1) of this section, except where the ship's certificate of registry is lost or destroyed, the master of the ship shall, as soon as practicable after the event occurs, deliver the certificate to a registrar, or to a consular officer, and the registrar (if he is not himself the original registrar) or the consular officer shall forthwith forward the certificate delivered to him to the original registrar.

(3) The owner of a Bahamian ship who wishes to transfer the ship to a foreign registry may do so if there are no claims outstanding in favour of the Government of The Bahamas and shall submit to the original registrar

(2) Upon notification of such registration from the proper officer, the registrar shall for that period suspend the certificate of registry of that ship and shall notify the proper officer of the suspension and of any mortgage instrument which is recorded in the register in respect of that ship.

(2) A Bahamian ship shall be issued a certificate of registry and her provisional certificate of registry shall be cancelled when all of the conditions required by subsection (3) are either met or waived in accordance with subsection (4).

(3) The conditions which must be met before a provisionally registered ship may become no longer provisionally registered are-

(4) The registrar or Director may in exceptional circumstances waive any of the conditions required by subsection (3).

(5) A provisional certificate of registry may be issued for six months in the first instance and may be extended by a registrar or the Director for such time as he thinks fit.

(6) A provisional certificate of registry shall entitle a ship to all the privileges of a Bahamian ship.

(2) The bill of sale shall contain such description of the ship as is contained in the surveyor's certificate or some other description sufficient to identify the ship to the satisfaction of a registrar, and shall be executed by the transferor in the presence of, and be attested by, a witness or witnesses.

(2) Bills of sale of a ship or of a share therein shall be entered in the register in the order of their production to a registrar.

(2) The original registrar, on receipt of the declaration of transmission and accompanying matter shall enter in the register the name of the person entitled under the transmission to be registered as owner of the ship or share therein, the property which has been transmitted and, where there is more than one such person, the names of all those persons, but those persons, however numerous, shall for the purpose of the provisions of this Act which relate to the number of persons entitled to be registered as owners, be considered as one person.