Merchant Shipping (Registration, etc.) Act 1993 (repealed 1.1.1996)

Terminology and construction U.K.

2 (1) Except as mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) below, in the Merchant Shipping Acts—

(a) “ship” includes every description of vessel used in navigation;

(b) any reference to a vessel, except in the expression “fishing vessel”, shall be construed as a reference to a ship (as so defined);

(c) “fishing vessel” means a vessel for the time being used (or, in the context of an application for registration, intended to be used) for or in connection with fishing for sea fish, other than a vessel used (or intended to be used) for fishing otherwise than for profit; and for the purposes of this definition “sea fish” includes shellfish, salmon and migratory trout (as defined by section 44 of the M1 Fisheries Act 1981);

(d) a vessel for the time being used (or intended to be used) wholly for the purpose of conveying persons wishing to fish for pleasure is not a fishing vessel;

(e) “foreign”, in relation to a ship, means that it is neither a United Kingdom ship nor a small ship (as defined in paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 3 to this Act) which is a British ship;

(f) “master”, in relation to a fishing vessel, means the skipper; and

(g) any reference to “home trade ships” shall be construed as a reference to ships employed in trading or going between places in the limited trading area, as defined for the time being in regulations; and similarly as respects any reference to a “home trade passenger ship”;

and any enactment in which “ship” or “vessel” has the same meaning as in the Merchant Shipping Acts shall be construed in accordance with (a) and (b) above.

(2) Sub-paragraph (1)(a) and (b) above do not apply in relation to Part IX of the 1894 Act and sections 16 and 17 of the 1974 Act.

(3) In the Merchant Shipping Acts—

(a) “United Kingdom waters” means the sea or other waters within the seaward limits of the territorial sea of the United Kingdom;

(b) “national waters”, in relation to the United Kingdom, means United Kingdom waters landward of the baselines for measuring the breadth of its territorial sea;

and in section 544 of the 1894 Act the reference to British waters shall be construed as a reference to United Kingdom waters.

(4) In the Merchant Shipping Acts any reference to, or to any of, the tackle, equipments, furniture or apparel of a ship shall be construed as a reference to the equipment of a ship.

(5) In the Merchant Shipping Acts any reference to carriages, wagons or carts shall be construed as a reference to vehicles.

Marginal Citations

M1 1981 c.29

3 Without prejudice to the effect of any provision for the construction of any Act (“the Act in question”) included in the Merchant Shipping Acts 1894 to 1988 as one with the previous Acts so included, references in the Acts so previously included to the Merchant Shipping Acts shall be construed as including references to the Act in question.