Various necessary and excellent regulations are embodied for the construction and equipment of steam-ships, without interfering with their form, leaving their owners and builders every possible scope for improvement, and compelling the fulfilment of certain conditions necessary to insure safety without relieving their owners from their just responsibility to the public. Vessels built of iron must be separated into water-tight compartments, which has since been repealed, and, in the case of steamers, the engine-room must be kept entirely distinct from the hold and cabins; passenger ships (of which further notice will hereafter be taken) are under special regulations with regard to surveys and signals, the use of fire-engines, and the shelter of all persons conveyed on deck.
Pilots and pilotage.
In the fifth part, the powers and general jurisdiction of pilots and pilotage authorities are defined. Power is also given by this Act to dispense with the use of pilots which had been enforced at certain places, by the Acts of 1849 and 1853, and was subsequently extended to all ports in the United Kingdom except London, Liverpool, and Bristol, so as to permit “the master or mate of any ship” who “may, upon giving due notice, and consenting to pay the usual expenses, apply to any pilotage authority to be examined as to his capacity to pilot the ship of which he is master or mate, or any one or more ships belonging to the same owners,” and, if found qualified, to receive a pilotage certificate.
The sixth part of the Act refers to the management of lighthouses,[142] buoys, and beacons, whether under the immediate control of the Ancient Trinity House of Deptford Strond, of the “Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses,” or of the Dublin “Ballast Board.”[143] These separate authorities (subject to the control of the Board of Trade) are hereby authorized to appoint persons to inspect the lighthouses and levy dues for their maintenance (but with revision by her Majesty in Council), and to regulate and alter such dues. Accordingly, each of them may see the following works carried out within its jurisdiction:—(1) Erect, remove, alter, or repair lighthouses, with all other requisite works in connection with them; (2) construct, place, or alter any buoys or beacons; (3) purchase any land necessary either for the lighthouse or its approaches, with residences for the light-keepers; and (4) vary the character of any lighthouse or the mode of exhibiting any lights therein.
Existing Mercantile Marine Fund.
The seventh part deals with the existing Mercantile Marine Fund, which, in some respects, but only to the very limited extent I have named, supplies the place of the Merchant Seaman’s Fund, and directs the Board of Trade to carry to this fund all fees and other sums received under the provisions of the third and fourth sections of this Act; all surplus light dues, when not appropriated to the reduction of the charge levied on ships, all rates and moneys received by the Trinity House under the Local Act (7 Vict., cap. 57) for the regulation of lastage and ballastage in the River Thames, and various other fees. It directs these funds to be applied to the cost of the examinations, and of the shipping offices provided under the third part, and of the survey of steam ships under the fourth part of this Act. The remaining portions of this fund not required for the maintenance of the lighthouses, &c., &c., is used for the purpose of establishing and maintaining on the coast of the United Kingdom proper life-boats,[144] and for rewarding the preservation of life in such cases as the Board of Trade may direct, and for remunerating persons in connection with wrecks, casualties, and salvage with which the eighth portion of the Act specially deals.
Wrecks.
The inquiry into wrecks, though still requiring amendment, is not the least important part of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854. It has proved of immense value to the State, and combined with the new law of admeasurement, and, of course, with that wholesome rivalry free navigation has created, has done much to improve the quality and equipment of the merchant vessels of Great Britain, and has, at the same time, tended to the safety of life and property at sea. This part of the Act provides, that whenever any ship is lost, abandoned, or materially damaged, especially in cases where life has been sacrificed, the Board of Trade may[145] institute an inquiry (I object to the mode in which this is now carried out) into the cause of such misfortune, and, for this purpose, appoint suitable persons to form a court, able and competent to deal with all such questions.
Under the eighth part of the Act, the Board of Trade has intrusted to it the general superintendence of all matters relating to wrecks cast on shore, together with the appointment of receivers, who have authority to summon all persons, promiscuously, to their aid, to whatever number may be deemed necessary for the saving from plunder or otherwise the property thus stranded, and to “demand the use of any waggon, cart, or horses that may be near at hand;” “all persons refusing, without reasonable cause, to comply with this summons are liable to a penalty not exceeding 100l.” The receiver can also use force to suppress plunder, and “if any person is killed, maimed, or otherwise hurt by reason of his resisting the receiver in the execution of his duties, this officer is indemnified against all prosecutions for such acts”—a power somewhat approaching the rigour of the ancient laws, but still not too stringent to suppress the lawlessness even now prevailing when wrecks take place on remote parts of our coasts. Certain rules are laid down to be observed by persons finding or taking possession of a wreck; for instance, he must give notice of it as soon as possible to the receiver of the district, and, if he fails to do so, is, thereby, subject to penalties for his neglect, as well as to the loss of all salvage. Salvage is awarded to persons saving life or property from the perils of the sea, and is regulated in amount by the risk incurred and the extent of services rendered, the saving of life having priority over all other claims.
Provision is, generously and very properly, now made, that no claim for the use of any of her Majesty’s ships in saving life or property shall be valid, and that no person on board of such ships shall be permitted to make any demand on this behalf without the formal consent of the Admiralty, the mode of procedure in all such cases, previously in many ways objectionable, is now clearly established and defined. Nor does the Act omit to deal, and with great propriety, with dealers in marine stores and manufacturers of anchors. Subsequently, but on much more debateable grounds,[146] an act was passed which dealt with the makers of chain cables.