17. Sale of Ship at Sea.—
Such vessels may be sold or mortgaged by delivery of a proper instrument without the actual presence of the property and are entirely valid if possession be taken within a reasonable time after it comes within the purchaser's reach. The new owner should record the title in the custom house for the district in which his residence is, and observe all the requirements of law in regard to a new registration if he desires to preserve her national character. To be safe, until the vessel returns, the mortgage of a ship at sea should be recorded at the home port, as shown by the outstanding document as well as at the new home port.
In the case of a transfer of a vessel at sea, where it is desired to preserve her nationality, it is necessary, upon her arrival at her home port, to deliver up her certificate of registration and obtain a new certificate.
In the case of United States v. Willings, 4 Cranch, 48, a share in an American vessel was transferred by parole while she was at sea; and, before she reached port, was re-transferred, also by parole, to the original owners. The government challenged her right to the American flag, but the court held that the requirement that, upon transfer, the certificate of registery be surrendered, did not mean that the ship would forfeit the flag unless such surrender were contemporaneous with the sale, since a sale may be made by parole, and, inasmuch as the ship carries her papers with her, the registration could not be attended to until she returned. The Court, speaking through Chief Justice Marshall, held that the ship, having been sold at sea by parole and bought back by her original owners, also, by parole, before she reached port, had been twice legitimately sold and as her ownership when she returned was the same as when she started, her nationality remained unchanged.