Merchant Shipping Act 1894

453 Precautions against shitting of grain cargo laden in port in Mediterranean or Black Sea, or on coast of North America.

(1) Where a British ship laden with a grain cargo at any port in the Mediterranean or Black Sea is bound to ports outside the Straits of Gibraltar, or where a British ship is laden with a grain cargo on the coast of North America, the precautions to prevent the grain cargo from shifting, set out in the Eighteenth Schedule to this Act, shall be adopted, unless the ship is loaded in accordance with regulations for the time being approved by the Board of Trade, or is constructed and loaded in accordance with any plan approved by the Board of Trade.

(2) If this section is not complied with in the case of any ship, reasonable precautions to prevent the grain cargo of that ship from shifting shall be deemed not to have been taken, and the owner and master of the ship and any agent charged with loading her or sending her to sea shall be liable accordingly to a fine under this Part of this Act.

(3) Nothing in this section shall exempt a person from any liability, civil or criminal, to which he would otherwise be subject for failing to adopt any reasonable precautions which, although not mentioned in this section, are reasonably required to prevent grain cargo from shifting.