[1]Registration of Ships Act, 1841 [Repealed]

[Act 10 of 1841]

[5th July, 1841]

[Repealed by Act 44 of 1958, Section 461(1) and Schedule-Part I, w.e.f. 1-1-1961.]

An Act for prescribing the rules to be observed in order that ships or vessels belonging to ports within the territories [2][of India] may become entitled to the privileges of British Ships under a Proclamation of the Governor General of India in Council made in pursuance of the Statute 3rd and 4th Victoria, Ch.56[3]

[4][* * *]

Section 1. Ships to be registered

It is hereby enacted that no ship or vessel shall be deemed a British ship under [5][the Proclamation of the Governor General of India in Council made in pursuance of the Statute 3rd and 4th Victoria, Ch. 56] (except as regards ships or vessels registered before the passing of this Act, or having a pass at the time of passing thereof) unless the person or persons claiming property therein shall have caused the same to have been registered at some one of the ports hereinafter mentioned [6][* * *]

Certificate of registry

and shall have obtained a certificate of such registry from the person or persons authorised to make such registry and grant such certificate as hereinafter directed, the form of which certificate shall be as follows:?

?This is to certify that in pursuance of the Act 10 of 1841 of the Governor General of India in Council (here insert the names and occupation and residence of subscribing owners) having made and subscribed the declaration required by the said Act and having declared that (he or they) together with (names, occupations and residence of non-subscribing owners) (is or are) sole owners in the proportions specified on the back hereof, of the ship or vessel called the (ship's name) of (place at which the vessel shall be registered) which is of the burthen of (numbers of tons), and whereof (master's name) is master, and that the said ship or vessel was (when and where built) and (name and employment of surveying officer), having certified to us, that the said ship or vessel has (number) decks and (number) masts, that her (here insert measurement as ascertained by the rules hereinafter mentioned), that she is (how rigged) rigged with a (standing or running) bowsprit, is (description of stern) sterned, (carved or clincher) built, has (whether any or no) gallery, and (kind of head, if any) head: and the said subscribing owners having consented and agreed to the above description, the said ship or vessel called the (name) has been duly registered at the port of (name of port). Certified under our hands at the customs-house, in the said port of (name of port), this (date) day of (name of month) in the year (words at length).

(Signed)???, Collector or Registrar of Shipping.?

And on the back of such certificate of registry there shall be an account of the parts or shares held by each of the owners mentioned and described in such certificate, in the form and manner followings:?

Section 2. Ports of registry[7]

[* * *] The ports at which registration shall be made shall be the ports of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay [8][* * *] and such other places [9][in [10][India] as the Central Government] may, from time to time, declare to be registering ports under this Act:

Provided that ship or vessels built at any place other than any of such ports shall be allowed to make their first voyage to any of such ports, being the ports at which it is intended they shall be registered under a certificate to be granted by the [11][officer authorised by the Central Government in this behalf] at the place where the ship is built, or if there be no [12][such officer] there, then by three merchants of such place, which certificate shall contain all the particulars with regard to the ownership and description of the ships or vessels contained in a certificates of registry, and shall specify the ports at which it is intended that they shall respectively be registered, and which it is intended that they shall respectively be registered, and which certificate shall have all the effect of a certificate or registry under this Act during the first voyage from the place of building to the ports at which the ships or vessels respectively shall be afterwards registered:

Provided that such ships or vessels so proceeding on their first voyage as aforesaid shall be deemed British Ships only whilst duly prosecuting such first voyage for the purpose of registry, and, if they be not registered within a reasonable time after their arrival at the port of registry, the owners, or master or other person having or taking the command or charge of such ship or vessel, shall be liable, [13][on conviction before a Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class], to a penalty not exceeding five thousand rupees.

Section 3. Registrars[14]

[* * *]The persons authorized to make such registry, and to grant such certificate as aforesaid, shall be [15][such persons] as the [16][Central Government] may, from time to time, appoint [17][* * *]

Section 4. Book of registry[18]

[* * *] At every port where registry shall be made in pursuance of this Act a book shall be kept by the registering?officer, in which all the particulars contained in the form of the certificate of the registry hereinbefore directed to be used shall be duly entered; and every registry shall be numbered in progression, beginning such progressive numeration at the commencement of each and every year. And such registering?officer shall forthwith, or within one month at the further, send to [19][the Central Government] a true and exact copy, together with the number of every certificate which shall be by him so granted.

Section 5. Declaration[20]

[* * *] No registry shall henceforth be made or certificate be granted, until the following declaration be made or subscribed before the registering-officer by the owner or major part of the owner of the ship or vessel required to be registered:?

?I, A. B., of (place of residence and occupation) do truly declare that the ship or vessel (name) of (port or place) whereof (master's name) is at present master, being (kind of build, burthen, et cetera, as described in the certificate of the surveying-officer) was (when and where) built, and that I, the said (A.B), and the other owners (names and occupations, if any, and where they respectively reside), am (or are) sole owner (or owners) of the said vessel, and that no other person or persons whatever hath or have any right, title, interest share or property therein or thereto; and that I, the said (A. B.), and the said other owners (if any), m (or are) truly and bona fide [21][a [22][citizen of India (or citizens of India)]] and that no person not being [23][a citizen of India], directly or indirectly, hath any share or part interest in the said ship or vessel?:

Provided that, if the registering-officer shall see occasion to doubt the truth of any of the facts contained in the above declaration, he shall not deem such declaration to be conclusive, but may refuse the registry or certificate, and his discretion exercised in this behalf shall be subject only to an appeal to [24][the Central Government].

Section 6. Further declaration by owners who attend[25]

[* * *] In case the required number of joint owners of any ship or vessel shall not personally attend to make and subscribe the declaration hereinbefore directed to be made and subscribed, then and in such case such owner or owners as shall personally attend and make and subscribe the declaration aforesaid shall further declare that part owner or part owners of such ship or vessel] then absent is or are not resident within twenty miles of such port or place, and hath or have not to the best of his or their knowledge or belief wilfully absented himself or themselves in order to avoid the making the declaration hereinbefore directed to be made and subscribed, or is or are prevented by illness from attending to make and subscribe the said declaration.

Section 7. Measurement to be made

And in order to enable the registering-officer to grant a certificate cate truly and accurately describing every ship or vessel to be registered in pursuance of this Act, and also to enable all other officers of Customs, on due examination, to discover whether any such ship or vessel is the same with that for which a certificate is alleged to have been granted, it is hereby enacted that previous to the registering or granting of any certificate of registry as aforesaid some one or more person or persons appointed by [26][the Central Government], taking to his or their assistance, if he or they shall judge it necessary, one or more person or persons, skilled in the building and admeasurement of ships, shall go on board of every such ship or vessel that is to be registered, and shall strictly and accurately examine and admeasure every such ship or vessel as to all and every particular contained in the form of the certificate hereinbefore directed in the presence of the master, or of any certificate hereinbefore directed in the presence of the master, or of any other person who shall be appointed for that purpose on the part of the owner or owners, or in his or their absence by the said master, and shall deliver a true and just account in writing of all such particulars of the build, description and admeasurement of every such ship or vessel as are specified in the form of the certificate above recited to the officer authorized to make such registry and grant such certificate of registry as aforesaid; and the said master or other person attending on the part of the owner or owners is hereby required to sign his name also to the certificate of such surveying or examining officer, in testimony of the truth thereof, provided such master or other person shall consent and agree to the several particulars set forth and described therein.

Section [27][8. Certificate of surveying officer

The certificate of the surveying officer shall be in the form in the Schedule to this Act or in such other form as the Central Government may from time to time prescribe; and such certificate shall be delivered to the registering officer before registry.

Section 9. Measurement of tonnage for purpose of registry

Subject to the provisions of Section 70 of Act 1 of 1859[28], (an Act for the amendment of the law relating to Merchant Seamen) as amended by Section 9 of the Indian Merchant Seamen's Act, 1876 (13 of 1876), the tonnage of a ship or vessel required by law to be registered shall, previous to her being registered, be measured and ascertained according to such of the rules and orders for the time being in force in and under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854[29] (17 and 18 Vict., c. 104. 52 and 53 Vict., c. 43.), as amended by subsequent Acts [including the Merchant Shipping (Tonnage) Act, 1889] as apply to measurement of tonnage for the purpose of registry.

Section 10. Measurement of tonnage for purpose other than registry

Subject to the provisions referred to in the last foregoing section, the tonnage of a ship or vessel requiring to be measured for any purpose other than registry shall be measured and ascertained according to such of the rules and orders for the time being in force in and under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854[30] (17 and 18 Vict.,.c. 104.), amended as aforesaid, as apply to measurement of tonnage for a purpose other than registry.

Section 11. Substitution of Central Government for Board of Trade

The rules and orders referred to in Section 9 and Section 10 of this Act shall, in their application to measurement of tonnage for the purposes of this Act, or of any enactment, rule or order referring to this Act, be read and construed as if the Central Government were therein named instead of the authority for which the Board of Trade has been substituted by Section 3 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1872 (35 and 36 Vict., c. 73)[31].

Section 12. Marking of register tonnage on ship or vessel

The true amount of the register tonnage of every ship or vessel to be measured and ascertained according to the rules and orders referred to in Section 9 of this Act shall be deeply carved or cut in figures of at least three inches in length on the main beam of every such ship or vessel prior to her being registered.]

Section 13. Registration of country craft not exceeding two hundred tons

[Repealed by Act 11 of 1850.]

Section 14. Registered tonnage to be repeated in every subsequentregister[32]

[* * *]Whenever the [33][register] tonnage of any ship or vessel shall have been ascertained according to the [34][said rules and orders], such account of [35][register] tonnage shall ever after be deemed the [36][register] tonnage of such ship or vessel, and shall be repeated in every subsequent registry of such ship or vessel, unless it shall happen that any alteration has been made in the form of burthen of such ship or vessel, or it shall be discovered that the [37][register] tonnage of such ship or vessel had been erroneously taken and computed.

Section 15. Fraudulent use of certificate[38]

[* * *] If such certificate as aforesaid shall be sold, lent or other wise disposed of to any person or persons whatever than those for whose use it is granted, or shall be made use of for the services or any other ship or vessel than the ship or vessel for which it is granted, such certificate shall thenceforth be utterly void, and the master or any owner of the ship or vessel who shall be proved to have sold, lent or disposed of such certificate, or made us of the same as aforesaid, or shall have concurred in or been privy to the committing of any such offence, shall be liable, [39][* * *][40][on conviction before a Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class,] to a penalty not exceeding ten thousand rupees.

And in case such ship or vessel shall be lost or taken by the enemy, burnt or broken up, or otherwise prevented from returning to the port at which she is registered, or shall on any account have lost and forfeited the privileges of a British ship, or shall have been seized and legally condemned for illicit trading, or shall have been taken in execution for debt and sold by due process of law, or shall have been sold to the Government,[41][* * *] or shall under any circumstances have been registered de novo, the certificate, if preserved shall be delivered up within one month after the arrival of the master in any port or place in [42][India] to the registering officer at such port, in default whereof the master or any of the owner shall be liable [43][* * *][44][on conviction before a Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class,] to penalty not exceeding five thousand rupees.

And if any person not being [45][a citizen of India] shall purchase or otherwise become entitled to the whole or to any part or share of or any interest in such ship or vessel, and the same shall be within the limits of any port of [46][India], then and in such case the certificate of registry shall, within seven days after such purchase or transfer of property in such ship or vessel, be delivered up to the registering officer at such port and if such ship or vessel shall be in any place not within [47][India] when such purchase or transfer of property shall take place, then certificate shall the delivered up within fourteen days after the arrival of such ship or vessel of the master thereof in any port of [48][India] to the registering-officer at such port, in default whereof the master or any of the owners shall be liable on conviction before any Justice of the Peace in a penalty not exceeding five thousand rupees recoverable in manner provided by [49][the law for the time being in force for the recovery of fines imposed by Criminal Courts].

Section 16. Change of master[50]

[* * *] When and so often as the master of any ship or vessel registered in manner hereinbefore directed shall be changed, the master or owner of such ship or vessel shall deliver to the person or persons hereinbefore authorised to make such registry and grant such certificates of registry at the port where such changes shall take place, if it be a port within [51][India], the certificate of registry belonging to such ship or vessel, who shall thereupon endorse and subscribe a memorandum of such change, and shall forthwith give notice of the same to the proper officer of the port or place where such ship or vessel was last registered pursuant to this Act, who shall likewise make a memorandum of the same in the book of registers which is hereby directed and required to be kept, and shall forthwith give notice thereof in like manner as of the original entry. But if the change do not take place in any port within [52][India], then such delivery, memorandum and endorsement shall be made and notice given at the first port within [53][India] at which the new master shall arrive after such change. In default of which delivery of the certificate such new master or any of the owners shall be liable, on conviction before a Justice of the Peace, to a penalty not exceeding five thousand rupees recoverable as aforesaid.

Section 17. Name of ship[54]

[* * *] It shall not be lawful for any owner or owners of any ship or vessel to give any name to such ship or vessel other than by which she was first registered in pursuance of this Act, and [55][* * *] the owner or owners of all and every ship or vessel which shall be so registered shall, before such ship or vessel, after such registry, shall begin to take in any cargo, paint or cause to be painted in transparent or yellow letters of a length of not less than four inches upon a black ground on some conspicuous part of the stern, the name by which such ship or vessel shall have been registered pursuant to this Act, and port to which she belongs in a distinct and legible manner, and shall so keep and preserve the same.

And [56][* * *] if such owner or owners, or master or other person having such ship or vessel to begin to take in cargo before the name of such ship or vessel has been so painted as aforesaid, or shall wilfully alter, erase, obliterate or in any wise hide or conceal, or cause or procure or permit the same to be done, or shall in any written or printed paper or other document describe such ship or vessel by any name other than that by which she was first registered pursuant to this Act, or shall verbally describe or cause or procure or permit such ship or vessel to be described by any other name to any officer or officers of Revenues in the due execution of his or their duty, then and in every such case the certificate of registry shall thenceforth become utterly void and such owners, or master or other person having or taking the charge or command of such ship or vessel, shall be liable, [57][on conviction before a Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class,] to a penalty not exceeding ten thousand rupees [58][recoverable as aforesaid]

Section 18. Certificate of building[59]

[* * *] All and every person and persons who shall apply for a certificate of the registry of any ship or vessel shall, and they are hereby required to, produce to the person or persons authorized to grant such certificate a true and full particular under the hand of the builder of such ship or vessel, or in case the want of such certificate can be satisfactorily accounted for, then to produce other sufficient evidence of the proper denomination, and the time when, and the place where, such ship or vessel was built, and also an exact account of the tonnage of such ship or vessel, and shall also make and subscribe a declaration before the person or persons hereinbefore authorized to grant such certificate that the ship or vessel for which such certificate is required is the same with that which is so described by the builder as aforesaid.

Section 19. Certificate lost or mislaid[60]

[* * *] If the certificate of registry of any ship or vessel shall be lost or mislaid, so that the same cannot be found or obtained for the use of such ship or vessel when needful, and proof thereof shall be made to the satisfaction of the registering-officer of the port at which the ship is registered, such officer shall and may, where the certificate shall have lost or mislaid, permit such ship or vessel to be registered de novo, and a certificate thereof to be granted:

Provided always that if such ship or vessel be absent and far distant from the port to which she belongs, or by reason of the absence of the owner or owners, or of any other impediment, registry of the same cannot then be made in sufficient time, such registering-officer shall and may grant a licence for the present use of such ship or vessel, which licence shall for the time and to the extent specified therein, and no longer, be of the same force and virtue as a certificate of registry granted under this Act:

Provided always that, if the certificate of registry shall at any time afterwards be found the same shall be forthwith delivered to the proper officers of Customs to be cancelled, and that no illegal use be made of the same, in default whereof the original certificate and the renewed certificate and licence shall thenceforth become utterly void, and any person wilfully detaining the certificate so required to be cancelled, or making any illegal use thereof, shall be liable on conviction before any Justice in a penalty not exceeding five thousand rupees recoverable as aforesaid.

Section 20. Detention of certificate

And whereas it is not proper that any person under any pretence whatever should detain the certificate of registry of any ship or vessel, or hold the same for any purpose other than the lawful use and navigation of the ship or vessel for which it was granted, it is therefore hereby enacted that?

in case any person who shall have received or obtained by any means or for any purpose whatever the certificate of the registry of any such ship or vessel (whether such person shall claim to be the master or to be the owner or one of the owners of such ship or vessel, or not), shall wilfully detain and refuse to deliver up the same to the proper officers of Customs, for the purpose of such ship or vessel, as occasion shall require, or to the person or persons having the actual command, possession and management of such ship or vessel as the ostensible and reputed master, or as the ostensible and reputed owner or owners thereof, it may and shall be lawful to and for any such last-mentioned person to make complaint on oath of such detainer and refusal to any Justice of the Peace residing near to the place where such detainer and refusal shall be;

and on such complaint the said Justice shall and is hereby required, by the warrant under his hand and seal, to cause the person so complained against to be brought before him to be examined touching such detainer and refusal;

and if it shall appear to the said Justice on examination of such person or otherwise that the said certificate of registry is not lost or mislaid, but is wilfully detained by the said person, such person shall be subject on conviction before such Justice to a penalty not exceeding one thousand rupees, recoverable as aforesaid, and the said Justice shall, and he is hereby required to, certify the aforesaid detainer, refusal and conviction to the person or persons who granted such certificate of registry for such ship or vessel, who shall on the terms and conditions of law being complied with make registry of such ship or vessel de novo, and grant a certificate thereof conformably to law, notifying on the back of such certificate the ground upon which the ship or vessel was so registered de novo;

and if the person who shall have detained and refused to deliver up such certificate of registry as aforesaid, or shall be verily believed to have detained the same, shall have absconded so that the said warrant of the Justice cannot be executed upon him, and proof thereof shall be made to the satisfaction of the registering-officer of the port at which the ship or vessel was registered, it shall be lawful for the said officer to permit such ship or vessel to be registered de novo, or otherwise, in his discretion, to grant a licence for the present use of such ship or vessel in like manner as is hereinbefore provided in the case wherein the certificate of registry is lost or mislaid.

Section 21. Registration de novo[61]

[* * *] If any ship or vessel, after she shall have been registered pursuant to the directions of this Act, shall in any manner whatever be altered so as not to correspond with all the particulars contained in the certificate of her registry, or if any alteration shall take place in the ownership of any ship or vessel, or of any share or shares thereof, in such cases such ship or vessel shall be registered de novo in manner hereinbefore required as soon as the returns to the port to which she belongs, or to any other port within [62][India] on failure whereof such ship or vessel shall be deemed to be a ship or vessel not duly registered, and any person making use of a certificate for the purposes of any ship or vessel which has been granted in respect of the same, after the same ought to have been registered de novo shall be liable on conviction before any Justice to a penalty not exceeding five thousand rupees recoverable as aforesaid.

Section 22. Testimony of registering-officers

And whereas great inconvenience may arise from the registering-officers being served with sub-poenas requiring them to bring with them and produce, on trials, in Courts of Law relative to the ownership of vessels or otherwise, the declaration required to be taken by the owners thereof prior to the registering thereof, and the books of registry, or copies or extracts therefrom; and whereas it would tend much to the despatch of business if the attendance of such registering-officer with the same upon such trials were dispensed with, it is therefore hereby enacted that?

the registering-officer at any port or place, and the person or persons acting for them respectively, shall upon every reasonable request by any person or persons whomsoever, produce and exhibit for his, her or their inspection and examination any declaration made by any such owner or owners, and also any register or entry in any book or books of registry required, and shall, upon every reasonable request by any person or persons whomsoever, permit him, her or them to take a copy or copies, or and extract or extracts thereof, respectively, and that the copy and copies of any such oath or declaration, registry or entry shall, upon being proved to be true copy or copies thereof respectively, be allowed and received as evidence upon ever trial at law, without the production of the original or originals, and without the testimony or attendance of any registering-officer, or other person or persons acting for them respectively, in all cases, as fully and to all intents and purposes as such original or originals, if produced by any registering-officer, or other person or persons acting for them, could or might legally be admitted or received in evidence.

Section 23. False declaration[63]

[* * *] If any person or persons shall falsely make declaration to any of the matters hereinbefore required to be verified by declaration, or if any person or persons shall counterfeit, erase, alter or

Falsifying documents falsify any certificate or other instrument in writing required or directed to be obtained, granted or produced by this Act, or shall knowingly or wilfully make use of any certificate or other instrument so counterfeited, erased, altered, falsified, or shall wilfully grant such certificate or other instrument in writing, knowing it to be false, such person or persons shall for every such offence be liable, [64][* * *][65][on conviction before a Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class], to a penalty not exceeding ten thousand rupees [66][recoverable as aforesaid] and, if any such offence be committed by the owner of any ship or vessel, the certificate of such ship or vessel shall thenceforth be wholly void.

Section 24. Ships of Native States

[Repealed by the A.O. 1950.]

Section 25. Fees[67]

[* * *] The fees demandable in respect of the granting any certificate or pass under this Act shall be fixed from time to time according to the directions of the Central Government but so that the same shall not exceed the amount of fees now payable for registering or granting passes to ships or vessels at the different Presidencies.

Section 26. Ports to which ships belong[68]

[* * *] All ships or vessels registered under this shall be deemed to belong to the ports at which they shall be respectively registered. And all ships or vessels being registered or in respect of which passes may have been granted which are unexpired at the time of passing this Act shall for the purpose of being deemed British ships be deemed to belong to the ports at which they may have been registered, or when passes shall have been granted which are unexpired, at which such passes may have been respectively granted. And such ships or vessels built and owned as required by the [69]Statute 3 and 4 Vict., Ch. 56, shall continue subject to all the rules in force at the respective Presidencies before the passing of this Act touching the registering, measurement, granting passes or other requisitions in respect of the same, and shall not be subject to the provisions of this Act, or any provisions of the Statute law, a compliance with which may heretofore have been necessary in order that ships or vessels built and owned as aforesaid might be deemed British ships for the purposes of trade.

Section [70]27. Definition of ?Local Government?

[Repealed by the A.O. 1937.]

[71][THE SCHEDULE

(See Section 8)

Act 10, 1841 Certificate of Survey

PARTICULARS OF ENGINES (IF ANY)

No. of Engines	Description	Whether British or Foreign made	When made	Name and Address of Makers	Diameter of Cylinders	Length of Stroke	No. of Horses Power (combined)
			Engines
			Boilers.

PARTICULARS OF TONNAGE

Gross Tonnage		No. of Tons	Deduction Allowed		No. of Tons
Under Tonnage Deck . . . . . . . . . . .			On account of space required for propelling power.
Closed-in spaces above the Tonnage Deck, if any.			On account of spaces occupied by Seamen or apprentices and appropriated to their use and
Space or spaces between Decks. . . . . .			kept free from goods or stores of every kind not
Poop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .			being the personal property of the Crew.
Forecastle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .			These spaces are the following, namely:?
Round-House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other closed-in Space, if any as follows:
Gross Tonnage	. . . . . .		Cubic metres
Deduction, as per contra.	. . . . . .
Registered Tonnage	. . . . . .			Total.

I, the undersigned????????????????????????????????having surveyed the above-named Ship, hereby certify that the above particulars are true.

Dated at?????????
this???????????day of
?????????18.		Surveyor.]

PROCLAMATION

The Governor General of India in Council hereby declares that all ships and vessels built or to be built within the limits of the Charter of the East India Company (as those limits are defined by the Statute 3rd and 4th of Queen Victoria, Cap. 56, entitled ?An Act further to regulate the trade of ships built and trading within the limits of the East India Company's Charter?), being owned by Her Majesty' subjects for whom the said Governor General in Council has power to legislate and belonging under the provisions of the Act passed by the Governor General in Council No. 10 of 1841, to any ports in the territories under the Government of the East India Company, shall be deemed to be British ships for all purposes of trade within the said limits, including the Cape of Good Hope and the territories and dependencies thereof.