Article 13 Protection of Crown interest in wrecks
Without prejudice to section 741 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (which relates to the exemption from the provisions of that Act of vessels belonging to Her Majesty), as modified by any Order in Council made under section 80 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1906f1, thepowers conferred on the Commissioners by sections 530 and 532 of the said Act of 1894 shall not be exercisable —
in relation to any vessel sunk, stranded or abandoned by design by or under the orders of a person acting on behalf of Her Majesty or an officer or servant of the Crown acting in the course ofhis duty as such;
except with the consent of the Secretary of State for Defence which may be given with or without such a direction as is referred to in paragraph
below, in relation to any vessel which is not excluded from the exercise of those powers by virtue of being a vessel belonging to Her Majesty but which, at the time when the vessel was sunk, stranded or abandoned —
had been required to be placed at the disposal of Her Majesty or of a government department; and
was appropriated to the service, under the direction and control of the Secretary of State for Defence, of Her Majesty’s ships of war.
The Commissioners shall give notice in writing to the Secretary of State of any decision of the Commissioners to exercise in relation to any vessel any of the powers conferred by the said sections 530 and 532 other than the power of lighting and buoying and, except in a case which is in the opinion of the Commissioners a case of emergency, shall not proceed with the exercise thereof —
except with the consent of the Secretary of State for Defence and the Secretary of State before the expiration of a period of 14 days from the giving of the notice; or
if before the expiration of the said period there is served on the Commissioners a direction by the Secretary of State for Defence or the Secretary of State that those powers shall not be exercised in relation to that vessel except in such a case as aforesaid;
and where in any such case as aforesaid the Commissioners proceed to exercise those powers without the consent and before the expiration of the period mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph or after a direction has been served on them as aforesaid, they shall not in the exercise of those powers use any explosives and, if before the expiration of the period aforesaid such a direction as aforesaid is served on them, shall not be entitled to exercise the power of sale conferred by the said section 530 or the power conferred by paragraph
of article 12 (Powers with respect to disposal of wrecks) of this Order:
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Provided that —
- (i)
The Commissioners shall not be required to give notice under this paragraph in respect of any vessel in respect of which they have received a consent under paragraph
- (i)
above, but any direction such as is referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph accompanying that consent shall be deemed for the purposes of this paragraph and paragraph (3) of the said article 12 to have been duly served under sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph;
the prohibition on the use of explosives imposed by this paragraph shall not apply to the use for cutting away the superstructure of a vessel of such small explosive charges as may for the time being be approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this proviso.
Without prejudice to the powers of sale conferred on the Commissioners by the said section 530, the Commissioners shall hold and dispose of any wreck within the meaning of Part IX of the said Act of 1894 raised, removed or recovered under that section, and any surplus proceeds of sale within the meaning of that section in accordance with such directions (if any) as may be given to them by the receiver of wreck; and on exercising the said power of sale in the case of any property the Commissioners shall discharge any sums payable in respect of that property by way of duties of customs or excise and any sums so discharged shall be deemed to be expenses incurred by the Commissioners under that section.
Any limitation on the powers of the Commissioners in relation to any vessel arising by virtue of paragraph (1) or paragraph (2) above shall not operate to authorise the exercise in relation to that vessel of the powers conferred on the Trinity House by section 531 of the said Act of 1894.
Annotations
Footnotes
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