Merchant Shipping Act 1894

184 Penalty on masters of ships leaving certain seamen in distress in the United Kingdom.

(1) If any person being a native of any country in Asia or Africa, or of any island in the South Sea or the Pacific Ocean, or of any other country not having a consular officer in the United Kingdom, is brought to the United Kingdom in a ship, British or foreign, as a seaman, and is left in the United Kingdom, and within six months of his being so left becomes chargeable upon the poor rate, or commits any act by reason whereof he is liable to be convicted as an idle and disorderly person, or any other act of vagrancy, the master or owner of the ship, or in case of a foreign ship the person who is consignee of the ship at the time of the seaman being so left as aforesaid, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding thirty pounds, unless he can show that the person left as aforesaid quitted the ship without the consent of the master, or that the master, owner, or consignee, has afforded him due means of returning to his native country, or to the country in which he was shipped.

(2) The court inflicting the fine may order the whole or any part of the fine to be applied towards the relief or sending home of the person left.