Merchant Shipping (Property of Deceased Seamen) Regulations 1980

Citation

1 These Regulations may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Property of Deceased Seamen) Regulations 1980.

Interpretation

2 In these Regulations—

"the Act" means the Merchant Shipping Act 1979 [title 31 item 16];

"employer", in relation to a seaman, means the person who last employed him as a seaman before his death;

"seaman" includes the master of a ship; and

"ship" means a ship registered in Bermuda but does not include a fishing vessel.

Property of deceased seaman left on board a ship

3 (1) This regulation applies to any property (including money) left on board a ship by a seaman dying while or after being employed in the ship.

(2) The master shall—

(a) take charge of that property;

(b) make an entry in the official log book comprising—

(i) a list of all the property so taken into his charge;

(ii) in the case of a sale under paragraph (3) (a) of any part of the property, a description of each article sold and the sum received;

(iii) in the case of the destruction or disposal of any part of the property under paragraph (3) (b), a description of each article destroyed or disposed of and the name of any person to whom disposal was made.

and any such entry shall be signed by the master and by a member of the crew.

(3) The master may at any time—

(a) sell, by public auction or otherwise, any part of the property which in his opinion is likely, before it can be delivered to a superintendent or proper officer in accor dance with paragraph (4), to have perished or deterio rated to such a degree as to be unusable for the purpose for which it is intended or to be of no value; and the pro ceeds of sale shall form part of the property;

(b) destroy or otherwise dispose of any part of the property and which, in his opinion, endangers or is likely to en danger the health or safety of any person on board the ship or the safety or efficiency of the ship or of any equipment in the ship.

(4) The master shall deliver the property or such part of it as shall not have been disposed of under paragraph (3)—

(a) if the superintendent or proper officer so requests, to the superintendent or proper officer for—

(i) the port at which the ship is at the time of a seaman's death; or

(ii) any port at which the ship calls and remains more than 48 hours; or

(b) if no such request has been made—

(i) in the case of a seaman who was resident in Bermuda to a superintendent in Bermuda or, if the ship does not call at a port in Bermuda in the course of the voyage during which the sea man dies, to the proper officer for the place where the voyage ends; or

(ii) in the case of a seaman who was not so resident, to the superintendent or proper officer for the place where the seaman would have been dis charged, had he survived, or for the place where the voyage ends,

within 48 hours after the ship first arrives at such a port or place.

(5) The master, when delivering the seaman's property to a su perintendent or proper officer in accordance with paragraph (4), shall deliver to him a record of all the property delivered and—

(a) where any property has been sold under paragraph (3) (a), a description of each article sold and the sum re ceived for it; and

(b) where any property has been destroyed or disposed of under paragraph (3) (b), a description of each such arti cle.

Property of deceased seaman left abroad

4 When any property is left in a country outside Bermuda by a seaman who dies while or within 6 months after being employed in a ship registered in Bermuda the proper officer for the place in which the property is left shall, if possible, take charge of it and any person having custody or charge of it shall, if the proper officer so requests, forthwith deliver it to him.

Property in charge of superintendent or proper officer

5 A superintendent or proper officer to whom a deceased seaman's property has been delivered or who has taken charge of any such prop erty in accordance with these Regulations shall, if so directed by the Minister, deliver the property to him or to such person as the Minister may direct.

Sale of property of deceased seaman

6 A superintendent or proper officer or any other person having charge of a deceased seaman's property may, on the direction of the Minister, sell it by public auction or otherwise, and the proceeds of sale shall thereupon form part of that property.

Wages of deceased seaman

7 (1) In the case of a seaman who dies outside Bermuda while or after being employed in a ship, the employer shall pay any wages due to the seaman at the date of his death—

(a) to the superintendent or proper officer to whom the seaman's property left on board the ship is required to be delivered in accordance with regulation 3 (4) ; or

(b) if there is no such property, to the superintendent or proper officer referred to in regulation 3 (4) (b),

as if it were property referred to in that paragraph.

(2) Wages paid to a superintendent or proper officer in accor dance with paragraph (1) shall be dealt with in accordance with these Regulations as part of the deceased seaman's property which has been delivered to him.

(3) In the case of a seaman who dies in Bermuda while or after being employed in a ship, the employer shall pay any wages due to the seaman at the date of his death to the Minister within 7 days after the seaman's death.

(4) The Minister may recover from the employer any wages due to a seaman at the time of his death in respect of his employment in a ship which are not paid to a superintendent or proper officer or to him self (as the case may require) in pursuance of paragraph (1) or paragraph (3),

Accounts

8 In any case to which regulation 7(1) or (3) applies, the employer shall deliver to the person to whom the deceased seaman's wages are payable under that regulation such an account of those wages as he would have been required to deliver to the seaman had the seaman left the ship on being discharged therefrom at the time of his death.

Records

9 A superintendent, proper officer, or any other person (other than a master), to whom any property of a deceased seaman is delivered or who takes any such property into his charge in accordance with these Regulations, shall keep a record showing—

(a) in respect of each article the date on which and name of the person by whom it was delivered to him;

(b) in respect of an article which has been sold, the date of sale and the sum received for it:

(c) in respect of an article disposed of, the date of disposal, the manner of disposal or the name of the person (if any) to whom it was disposed.

Offences

10 (1) A master who fails to comply with an obligation imposed on him by regulation 3(2)(a), (4) or (5) commits an offence:

Punishment on summary conviction: a fine of $200.

(2) A master who fails to make an entry in an official log book required by regulation 3(2)(b) commits an offence:

Punishment on summary conviction: a fine of $50.

(3) An employer who fails to comply with an obligation imposed on him by regulation 7(1) or (3) or by regulation 8 commits an offence:

Punishment on summary conviction: a fine of $200.

(4) Any person (other than a superintendent, a proper officer or a master) referred to in regulation 9 who fails to keep a record required by that regulation commits an offence:

Punishment on summary conviction: a fine of $200.

Commencement

11 [omitted]

Bermuda Consolidated Legislation

Merchant Shipping (Property of Deceased Seamen) Regulations 1980