Merchant Shipping (Safety and Load Line Conventions) Act 1932

23 Submersion of subdivision load lines.

(1) Where—

(a) a British passenger steamer registered in the United Kingdom has been marked with subdivision load lines, that is to say, load lines indicating the depth to which the steamer may be loaded having regard to the extent to which she is subdivided and to the space for the time being allotted to passengers; and

(b) the appropriate subdivision load line, that is to say, the subdivision load line appropriate to the space for the time being allotted to passengers on the steamer, is lower than the load line indicating the maximum depth to which the steamer is for the time being entitled under Part II of this Act to be loaded;

the steamer shall not be so loaded as to submerge the appropriate subdivision load line on each side of the steamer when the steamer has no list.

(2) If any such steamer is loaded in contravention of this section, the owner or master of the steamer shall for each offence be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds and to such additional fine, not exceeding the amount hereinafter specified, as the court thinks fit to impose, having regard to the extent to which the earning capacity of the ship was, or would have been, increased by reason of the submersion.

(3) The said additional fine shall not exceed one hundred pounds for every inch or fraction of an inch by which the appropriate subdivision load line on each side of the ship was submerged, or would have been submerged if the ship had had no list.

(4) Without prejudice to any proceedings under the foregoing provisions of this section, any such steamer which is loaded in contravention of this section may be detained until she ceases to be so loaded.

(5) The foregoing provisions of this section shall apply to passenger steamers not registered in the United Kingdom, while they are within any port in the United Kingdom, as they apply to British passenger steamers registered in the United Kingdom.