8. How Obtained.—
This registration or enrollment is obtained by proof of the collector that the vessel was built within the United States, or otherwise meets conditions mentioned; and that no foreigner is interested in her (Rev. St. § 4142); her size, characteristics and other points of identification are shown by certificates of the master carpenter under whose direction she was built, and surveyors appointed for the purpose, in accordance with R. S. 4147-4153; security is given that the certificate obtained shall be solely used for the ship, and thereupon the collector issues in statutory form his certificate of registration or enrollment, as the case may be (Rev. St. §§ 4155, 4319).
The title to the ship may vest in one or more individuals or a corporation. In either case the residence or domicile of the owner is important. The law considers that for purposes of jurisdiction the ship is a part of the territory of the state or country in which the owner resides, and she continues for many purposes to be subject to its laws wherever she sails (Crapo v. Kelly, 16 Wall. 610; The Hamilton, 207 U. S. 398).[4] In the case of Crapo v. Kelly, just cited, the ship Arctic, registered at Fairhaven, Massachusetts, belonged to a firm of owners, residing and doing business in that state, who had become insolvent. The insolvent court of Massachusetts undertook to include the vessel among the assets of the owners within its jurisdiction, for the benefit of creditors. The vessel arrived at New York and was attached by a creditor of the owners residing there. Upon extended consideration, the Supreme Court held:
This vessel, the Arctic, was upon the high seas at the time of the assignment (for the benefit of creditors). The status at that time decides the question of jurisdiction.... We hold that she was subject to the disposition made by the laws of Massachusetts and that for the purpose and to the extent that title passed to the assignees, the vessel remained a portion of the territory of that state.
The ship's registry or enrollment, therefore, fixes her home port and she will be considered as belonging to the state in which such port is located and as foreign to all other states and countries. Ordinarily she is liable to taxation as personal property only in the state in which her home port is situated, but this is subject to the qualification that her situs as personal property is, for purposes of taxation, governed by the same rules applicable to other personal effects. The general rule is that the situs of personal property is the domicile of the owner, and a ship will be liable to taxation in the state where the owner resides, irrespective of the location of her home port as shown on the ship's documents. Thus in So. Pac. Co. v. Ky., 222 U. S. 63, a corporation organized in Kentucky, owned a number of vessels enrolled at New York. They were held taxable in Kentucky.
The law further requires that every change in the title, command or structure of the ship shall be promptly reported and placed for record in the Collector's office, so that at any time her present status, the name of her commander and entire past history may be fully shown upon its books, and the Collector will furnish on request an abstract of the title which his records disclose. This abstract, of course, becomes important whenever the ship is sold or used as security, although it will not show anything in regard to maritime liens upon it since these are, in their nature, secret.
Under present practice the owners of a ship usually incorporate. Such corporations take the complete title and are treated as the sole owner in all respects. There is nothing in the admiralty law which differentiates corporations from other owners. It is also popular to incorporate as "single ship companies" and in this way a double protection against liabilities in excess of the amount invested may be obtained.