Merchant Shipping Act 1995

The Merchant Shipping Act 1995 is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom in 1995.

The Merchant Shipping (Pollution) Act 2006 amended section 178(1) of the Act. It restricts claims to being enforced within three years of the damage occurring, whereas previously it had been restricted to within three years after "the claim against the Fund arose", and within six years of the damage occurring.

Receiver of Wreck is a post defined under the Act. It is an official of the British government whose main task is to process incoming reports of shipwrecks in order to give legitimate owners the opportunity to retrieve their property and ensure that law-abiding finders of wreck receive an appropriate reward.^[1]

According to the Merchant Shipping Act, a wreck falls into one of four categories:

Flotsam 

goods lost from a ship which has sunk or otherwise perished which are recoverable because they have floated.

Jetsam 

goods cast overboard (jettisoned) in order to lighten a vessel which is in danger of sinking, even if they ultimately perish.

Derelict 

property which has been abandoned and deserted at sea by those who were in charge without any hope of recovering it. This includes vessels and cargo.

Lagan (or ligan) 

goods cast overboard from a ship, which afterwards perish, buoyed so that they can be recovered later.

See also

• Merchant Shipping Act

References

1. ^ Maritime and Coastguard Agency - Role of the Receiver Of Wreck

External links

• Official text of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 as amended and in force today within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database
• Official text of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 as originally enacted within the United Kingdom, from the UK Statute Law Database