Deceased seamen, engagement of substitutes
Following extract from MS ACT details about the deceased seamen and wages, personal effects etc.
152. Master to take charge of the effects of deceased seamen.-(1) If any seaman or apprentice engaged any ship, the voyage of which is to terminate in India, dies during that voyage, the master of the ship shall report the death to the next-of-kin of the seaman or apprentice and to the shipping master at his port of engagement and shall take charge of any money or effects belonging to the seaman or apprentice which are on board the ship.(2) The master shall thereupon enter in the official log book the following particulars, namely:-(a) A statement of the amount of money and a detailed description of the other effects;(b) A statement of the sum due to the deceased for wages and of the amount of deduction, if any, to be made from the wages.(3) The said money, balance of wages and other effects are in this Act referred to as the property of the seaman or apprentice.
153. Dealing with and account of property of seamen who die during voyage.-(1) If any seaman or apprentice engaged on any ship, the voyage of which is to terminate in India, dies during that voyage and the ship before coming to a port in India touches and remains for forty-eight hours at some port elsewhere, the master shall report the case to the Indian consular officer at such port and shall give to the officer any information he requires as to the destination of the ship and probable length of the voyage.(2) The Indian consular officer may, if he thinks it expedient, esquire the property of the seaman or apprentice to be delivered and paid to him and shall thereupon give to the master a receipt there for and endorse under his hand upon the agreement with the crew such particulars with respect thereto as the Central Government may require.(3) The receipt shall be produced by the master to the shipping master within forty-eight hours after his arrival at his port of destination in India.(4) Where a seaman or apprentice dies as aforesaid and the ship proceeds at once to a port in India without touching and remaining as aforesaid at a port elsewhere or the Indian consular officer does not require the delivery and payment of the property as aforesaid, the master shall, within forty-eight hours after his arrival at his port of destination in India, pay and deliver and property to the shipping master at that port.(5) A deduction claimed by the master in such account shall not be allowed unless verified by an entry in the official log book, and also by such other vouchers, if any, as may be reasonably required by the shipping master.(6) A shipping master in India shall grant to a master upon due compliance with such provisions of this section as relate to acts to be done at the part of destination a certificate to that effect.
154. Master to pay and deliver property of deceased seamen.-(1) If the master of a ship fails to comply with the provisions of this Act with respect to taking charge of the property of a deceased seaman or apprentice, or to making in the official log book the proper entries relating thereto, or to the payment or delivery of such property, he shall be accountable for such property to the shipping master as aforesaid, and shall pay and deliver the me accordingly.(2) The property may be recovered in the same court and manner in which the ages of seamen may be recovered under this Act.
155. Property of deceased seaman left abroad but not on board ship.-If any seaman or apprentice on an Indian ship, or engaged in India on any other ship, the voyage of hitches to terminate in India, dies at any place outside India leaving any money or effects not onboard the ship, the Indian consular officer at or near the place shall claim and take charge of such money and other effects (hereinafter referred to as the property of a deceased seaman or apprentice).
156. Dealing with property of deceased seamen.-(1) An Indian consular officer or a shipping master to whom the effects of a deceased seaman or apprentice are delivered or who takes change of such effects under this Act may, if he thinks fit, sell the effects and the proceeds of any such sale shall be deemed to form part of the property of the deceased seaman or apprentice.(2) Before selling any valuables comprised in the said effects, such officer or shipping master, shall endeavour to ascertain the wishes of the next-of-kin of the deceased seaman or apprentice as to the disposal of such valuables and shall, if practicable and lawful, comply with such wishes.(3) An Indian consular officer to whom any property of a deceased seaman or apprentice is delivered or who takes charge of any such property under this Act shall remit the property to the shipping master at the port of engagement of the deceased seaman or apprentice in such manner and shall render such accounts in respect thereof as may be prescribed.157. Recovery of wages, etc., of seamen lost with their ship.-(1) Where a seaman or apprentice is lost with the ship to which he belongs, the Central Government or such officer as the Central Government may appoint in this behalf may recover the wages and the compensation due t him from the owner, master or agent of the ship in the same court and in the same manner in which seamen’s wages are recoverable, and shall deal with those wages in the same manner as with the wages and compensation due to other deceased seamen or apprentices under this Act.(2) In any proceeding for the recovery of the wages and compensation, if it is shown by some official records or by other evidence of the proceeding, left any port, she shall, unless it is shown that sigh deemed to have been lost with all hands on board either immediately after the time she was last heard of or at such later time as the court hearing the case may think probable.
158. Property of seamen dying in India.- If a seaman or apprentice dies in India and is at the time of his death entitled to claim from the master or owner of the ship in which he has served any effects or unpaid wages, the master, owner or agent shall pay and deliver or account for such property to the shipping master at the port where the seaman or apprentice was discharged or was to have been discharged or to such other officer as the Central Government may direct.
159. Payment over of property of deceased seamen by shipping master.- Where any property of a deceased seaman or apprentice is paid or delivered to a shipping master, the shipping master, after deducting for expenses incurred in respect of that seaman or apprentice or of his property such sums as he thinks proper to allow, may–(a) pay and deliver the residue to any claimants who can prove themselves to the satisfaction of the said shipping master to be entitled thereto, and the said shipping master shall discharged from all further liability in respect of the residue so paid or delivered; or(b) if he thinks fit so to do, require probate or letters of administration or a certificate under the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (39 of 1925), to be taken out, and thereupon-pay and deliver the residue to the legal representatives of the deceased.
160. Disposal of unclaimed property of deceased seamen.-(1) Where no claim to the property of a deceased seaman or apprentice received by a shipping master is substantiated within one year from the receipt thereof by such shipping master, the shipping master shall cause such property to be sold and pay the proceeds of the sale into the public account of India.(2) If, after the proceeds of the sale having been so paid, any claim is made thereto, then, if the claim is established to the satisfaction of the shipping master, the amount or so much thereof as shall appear to him to be due to the claimant, shall be paid to him, and if the claim is not so established, the claimant may apply by petition to the High Court, and such Court, after taking evidence either orally or anaffidavit, shall make such order on the petition as shall seem just:
Provided that, after the expiration of six years from the receipt of such property by the shipping master, no claim to such property shall be entertained without the enacting of the Central Government.
Under Part VII–Seamen and Apprentices in MS ACT, Section 103- Special provisions with regard to agreements with the crew of Indian Ships, under part (d), which is reproduced below, deals with engagement of crew substituting the deceased person
103.Special provisions with regard to agreements with crew of Indian ships.-(d) When a substitute is engaged in the place of a seaman who has duly signed the agreement and whose services are within twenty-four hours of the ship’s putting to sea lost by death, desertion or other unforeseen cause, the engagement shall, if practicable, be made before a shipping master, and if not practicable, the master shall, before the ship puts to sea, if practicable, and, if not, as soon afterwards as possible, cause the agreement to be read over and explained to the substitute; and the substitute shall thereupon sign the same in the presence of a witness who shall attest the signature.