proper examination as to their qualifications, to obtain licenses as pilots (x). Every such new bye-law must, before it is submitted to her Majesty in council for her assent, be published in such manner as the Board of Trade shall prescribe; every order in council relating to it shall be laid, as soon as possible after the making thereof, before both Houses of Parliament; and if the majority of qualified pilots at any port, or the Local Marine Board, or should there be no Local Marine Board, not less than six masters, owners, or insurers of ships, consider themselves aggrieved by any bye-law or regulation made under some authority other than the provisions of the Act, the Board of Trade is authorized, on their appeal to it, to revoke or alter such bye-law or regulation, in such manner as may appear to it just and expedient (y). Every pilotage authority is required, under pain of having its jurisdiction transferred to the Trinity House, to deliver periodically to the Board of Trade returns of all bye-laws, regulations, and orders relating to pilots, in force under its jurisdiction; of the names and ages of all pilots and apprentices licensed by it, or acting without license; of the service for which each pilot or apprentice is licensed; the rates of pilotage for the time being in force, and the total amount received for pilotage; and the receipt and expenditure of all monies (x) The following rules are to be observed with respect to provisional orders made in pursuance of this act : 1. Application in writing for such order 2. Notice of such application having been 4. The Board of Trade on receiving the 5. The Board of Trade shall, after considering all objections, determine whether N to proceed with the provisional order or 6. No such provisional order shall take House of Parliament against any such (y) Sects. 334-336. received by or on behalf of such authority, or any sub-commissioners appointed by it; and these returns are to be laid without delay before both Houses of Parliament (a). The master or mate of any ship may apply to any pilotage authority to be examined as to his capacity to pilot such ship, or other ships belonging to the same owner, within its district; and if upon examination he be found competent, such authority shall grant him a certificate, which shall enable him to pilot such ship or ships within the limits therein described, without incurring any penalties for not employing a qualified pilot; and if, upon complaint to the Board of Trade, it appears that such authority has refused to examine the applicant, or improperly withheld or withdrawn a certificate, the board may direct an examination of the person aggrieved, and if found competent, grant him a certificate (b). The certificate of any master or mate may be withdrawn by the Board of Trade, or any pilotage authority, if he is guilty of misconduct, or shows himself incompetent to pilot the ship (c). For the provisions respecting-the characteristics of pilot boats and of their flags (d), pilot licenses (e), and their production, on request, to the person employing a pilot, or to whom his services are tendered, their delivery to the pilotage authority by whom the pilot was appointed when required by such authority (f), the general rights, privileges, and remuneration of pilots, and the liability for pilotage, of owners, masters, and such consignees or agents, who have paid or made themselves liable to pay any other charge in respect of the ship, the reader is referred to the Act (g). A qualified pilot may supersede an unqualified pilot, and a penalty of 501. is incurred by the latter, if he continues in charge of a ship after a qualified pilot has offered to take charge of her; or if he uses a license to which he is not entitled (h). But an unqualified pilot may, without subjecting himself to any penalty, take charge of a ship, when no qualified pilot has offered to take charge of her, or where a ship is in distress or difficulty, or for the purpose of changing her moorings in port, or taking her in or out of dock, where such act may be done without infringing the regulations of the port, or the lawful orders of the harbour-master (i). A qualified pilot on board any boat or ship leading another ship which cannot be boarded, is entitled to full pilotage for the distance run (k). A refusal, at the request of any qualified pilot, to declare the (a) Sects. 337-340. (b) Sects. 340-342. (c) Sect. 344. (d) Sects. 345-348. (e) Sect. 349. (f) Sect. 352. This enactment is absolute and unqualified. Henry v. Trinity House of Newcastle, 8 E. & B. 723; 27 L. J. (N. S.) M. C. 57. (g) Sects. 356-368. (h) Sects, 360, 361. But the master is at liberty to employ steam or other bond fide moving power; and although the selection of the ship's course may necessarily devolve upon the person applying such power, he has been held not liable, though unqualified, to the penalty enacted by sect. 70 of 8 Geo. 4, c. 125, and not to be a person "having the charge or conduct of the ship" within the meaning of that section. Beilby v. Scott, 7 Mees. & W. 93. (i) Sect. 362. Rex v. Lamb, 5 Term Rep. 76. Rex v. Neale, 8 Term Rep. 241. And as to what is a change of mooring, McIntosh v. Slade, 7 B. & Č. 657. (k) Sect. 356. draught of water of any ship, or the being privy to a false declaration thereof, subjects the master to a penalty of double the amount of pilotage which would have been payable. And if any master, or other person interested in a ship, makes, or is privy to any other person making, any fraudulent alteration in the marks on the stem or stern-post of such ship denoting her draught of water, the offender is liable to a penalty of 500l. (1). If any pilot, when in charge of a ship, by wilful breach or neglect of duty, or drunkenness, does any act tending to the immediate loss, destruction, or serious damage of such ship, or to endanger the life or limb of any person on board, or omits to do any lawful act, proper and requisite to be done for the prevention of such misfortunes, he is guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to suspension or dismissal (m). 4. Of Compulsory Pilotage. With respect to compulsory pilotage, it and all exemptions from it are to continue in districts in which they obtained before the passing of the Act (n); and masters of unexempted ships piloting their ships without a pilotage certificate, or employing an unqualified person to pilot them after a qualified pilot has offered to take charge of such ship, or made a signal for that purpose, incur a penalty of double the amount of pilotage demandable for the conduct of such ship (0). The master of every ship carrying passengers between any place situate in the United Kingdom or the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, Alderney, and Man, unless he or his mate has a pilotage certificate or a certificate from the Board of Trade, must, within the limits of any district for which licenses are granted by any pilotage authority, employ a qualified pilot, and is liable to a penalty of 1007. for every offence if he fails so to do (p). These regulations are applicable generally within the limits of all pilotage jurisdictions (q). The pilotage districts of the Trinity House, within which the employment of pilots is compulsory, are the London district, and the Trinity outport districts; and any master without certificate piloting his own ship, or employing an unqualified person after offer to take charge or signal made by a qualified pilot, is liable, besides the penalty before specified, to an additional penalty, (a certificate having been obtained from the Trinity House autho (1) Sect. 359. (m) Sect. 66. (n) Sect. 379 has been held not to limit the exemptions contained in 6 Geo. 4, c. 125, 8. 59, and continued in section 353. Stanton v. Banks, 27 L. J. (N. S.) M. C, Q. B. 103; R. v. Stanton, 8 E. & B. 445. (0) Sect. 353. It was decided under the former statutes, that in order to subject the master to a penalty for continuing an unlicensed pilot, after a pilot duly licensed and qualified offers to take charge of the ship, it must appear that such offer was made to or in the presence of the master. Peake (qui tam) v. Carrington, 2 B. & B. 399, and 5 B. M. 176; and see Reg. v. Chaney, 6 Dowl. 281; Chaney v. Payne, 1 Q. B. 712. "I presume, however," says the author, (5th edition, p. 155,) "that if the master should have given orders to his mate or other person not to receive a pilot, an offer to such person would be considered as an offer to the master himself." (p) Sects. 354, 355. rizing the prosecutor to proceed for it,) not exceeding 57., for every fitfy tons burden of the ship (r). A sufficient number of qualified pilots is always, by night and by day, to be ready to take charge of vessels coming from the westward of Dungeness, in conformity to such regulations as the Trinity House may think right to promulgate (s). A forfeit to the Trinity House of double the sum which would have been demandable for the pilotage is to be paid by the person in command of a ship coming from the westward, and bound to any place in the Thames or Medway, who, not having a duly qualified pilot on board, and not being exempt from compulsory pilotage, shall not, on the arrival of his vessel off Dungeness, and until she shall have passed the south buoy of the Brake and a line drawn from Sandown Castle to the said buoy, or until a duly qualified pilot has come on board, display the usual signal for a pilot; and who, if any duly qualified pilot shall be within hail, or approach him within half a mile, with the proper distinguishing flag flying in his vessel or boat, shall not by all practicable means facilitate such pilot's getting on board, and give the charge of piloting the vessel to him (t). 5. What Vessels need not take a Pilot. Ships, when not carrying passengers, employed in the coasting trade of the United Kingdom, ships of not more than sixty tons burden, or trading to Boulogne, or any place in Europe north of Boulogne, or from Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, or Man, or navigating within the limits of the port to which they belong, or passing through the limits of any pilotage district on their voyages between two places both situate out of such limits, and not being bound to any place within such limits or anchoring therein, are exempt in the London district and the Trinity outport district from compulsory pilotage (u). This section has been held not to affect the exemption by sect. 353, from the necessity of employing licensed pilots, of masters piloting their own ships without the aid of an unlicensed pilot, an exemption continued from the 6 Geo. 4, c. 125, s. 59, and which applies to ships carrying passengers as well as to ships not carrying them (x). The enactment that the employment of a pilot in the London (r) Sects. 370, 376. (s) Sect. 377. (t) Sect. 378. It was decided by the Court of Common Pleas, on the 11th section of the 52 Geo. 3, corresponding to this, that the penalties for not taking a pilot on board as soon as the vessel passes Dungeness, are to be ascertained by the voyage which she is about to perform, and which the act directs she shall not perform without a pilot: if, therefore, the vessel be bound for the river, (x) Reg. v. Stanton, 8 E. & B. 445. Earl of Auckland, Lush. Ad. 66. district shall not be compulsory upon ships trading to any place north of Boulogne when not carrying passengers, covers inward as well as outward voyages. A vessel, therefore, not carrying passengers on a voyage from Cronstadt to London was held to be exempt from compulsory pilotage in the river Thames (y). But the master of a ship carrying passengers between any place in the United Kingdom or the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Sark, Alderney and Man, and any other place so situate, is bound, by the express words of section 354 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, which is not restricted by section 353, to employ a licensed pilot, when navigating upon waters situate within the limits of any district for which pilots are licensed by any pilotage authority, unless he or his mate has a pilotage certificate enabling them to pilot such ship within such district (z). The masters and owners of ships passing through the limits of any pilotage district in the United Kingdom on their voyages between two places, both situate out of such districts, are exempted from any obligation to employ a pilot within such district, or to pay pilotage rates when not employing a pilot within such district; but this exemption is not to apply to ships loading or discharging at any place situate within such district, or at any place situate above such district on the same river, or its tributaries (a). 6. Miscellaneous. For the offences of pilots, and the penalties incurred by them for such offences (b)-the liability for pilotage of consignees or agents of ships, who have paid or made themselves liable to pay any other charge on account of such ships (c)-the rates of pilotage payable to Trinity House pilots (d)-the payment to the collector of customs of pilotage due from foreign ships trading to and from the port of London, and the right to detain such ships until the pilotage is paid (e) -the settlement of differences between the master and the qualified pilot of any ship trading to or from the port of London as to her draught of water, by which the rates of pilotage are regulated (f)— and the Trinity House pilot fund (g), the reader is referred to the statute. 7. Exemption of Owners and Masters from Liability in case of Loss or Damage. "No owner or master of any ship shall be answerable to any person (y) The Wesley, Lush. Ad. 268. (z) The Temora, Lush. Ad. 17. (a) 25 & 26 Vict. c. 63, s. 41. (b) Sect. 365, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 104. (c) Sect. 363. (d) Sect. 380. |