Criminal Code Act 1899

Any person who—

sends or attempts to send a ship to sea in such an unseaworthy state that the life of any person is likely to be thereby endangered; orEditor’s note—Subsection (1)(a) as originally enacted was numbered as (1) and subsection (1)(b) was numbered as (2).

being a master of a British ship, knowingly takes or attempts to take the ship to sea in such an unseaworthy state that the life of any person is likely to be thereby endangered;

is guilty of a crime, and is liable to imprisonment for 14 years.

It is a defence to a charge of any of the offences defined in this section to prove that the going of the ship to sea in such unseaworthy state was, under the circumstances, reasonable and justifiable.

It is a defence to a charge of either of the offences firstly defined in this section to show that the accused person used all reasonable means to ensure the ship being sent to sea in a seaworthy state. sch 1 pt 5 ch 29 s 330 amd 1988 No. 88 s 5 sch 2