Section 444: Interpretation

(1)
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-
"Agency" means the National Maritime Authority charged with the responsibility for Maritime Safety Administration or its successor;
"agreement" or "agreement with the crew" in relation to any ship or to any seaman, means the agreement made between the master and the crew of the ship or as the case may be, of the ship to which the seaman belongs and a ship is a ship for which an agreement with the crew is required, if the master is, by this Act or by the law of the country in which the ship is registered or to which it belongs, required to enter into an agreement with the members of the crew;
"aircraft" means any ship or vessel designed for flying but capable of being manoeuvered, on water and a seaplane or any ship or vessel able to alight on or hover over water;
"appropriate officer" in relation to a function or activity means a person authorised to perform that function or activity and may include a consular officer;
"article ofagreement" has the same meaning as agreement under this Act;
"barratry" includes every wrongful act wilfully committed by the master or crew to the prejudice of the owner or, as the case may be, the charterer of the ship;
"Board of Survey" means a Board of Survey appointed under this Act;
"cadet" means a person duly indentured as an apprentice to the sea service;
"cargo" includes livestock;
"cargo ship" means a ship which is not a passenger ship or a fishing vessels;
"certificate of survey" means a certificate of survey issued under this Act;
"clearance" means a clearance issued under the Customs and Excise Management Act, and includes a transire issued under that Act;
"Coastal trade limit" means the west coast of Africa between Cape Verde in the north and the mount of the River Congo in the south;
"Coastal trade ship" means a ship which is authorised to ply within coastal trade limits;
"Collector of Customs" means the Board of Customs and Excise and includes the principal or other officer of customs for the time being at any port;
"collision rules" means the rules on collision made or deemed to have been made under this Act;
"Consolidated Revenue Fund" means the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation;
"consular officer" in relation to a foreign country, means a person recognised by the Government of Nigeria as a consular officer of the country;
"country to which the Load Line Convention applies" means-
(a) a country, the Government of which has been declared by the Minister by order, to have ratified, or acceded to, the Load Line Convention, and which has not been so declared to have denounced the Convention, and
(b) a territory to which the Safety Convention has been declared to extend and to which it has not been declared that the Convention has ceased to extend;
"court" or "court of competent jurisdiction" means the Federal High Court or any court having particular jurisdiction for the purposes of this Act;
"crew" in relation to a ship means the captain and all other persons actually employed in the working or service of the ship;
"dangerous goods" means goods which, by reason of their nature, quantity or mode of stowage, are liable, singularly or collectively, to endanger the lives of persons on or near any ship or to imperil any ship; harmful substances and any other goods which are declared, by rules made or deemed to have been made under this Act or by the Minister by Regulation or notice in the Gazette to be dangerous goods for the purposes of this Act;
"deck line" means a mark on each side of a ship indicating the position of the uppermost complete deck, as defined by the load line rules;
"declaration of survey" means a declaration of survey made under this Act;
"desertion" means the absence of a seaman or cadet from his ship without Ieave for a period of forty-eight hours without lawful cause or excuse, or any unlawful departure from his ship with the intention of not returning to the ship;
"detaining officer" means a person authorised by the Minister to detain ships under this Act;
"effects" includes clothes and documents;
"fishing boat" means a ship or boat engaged in fishing for profit;
"foreign ship" means a ship, other than a Nigerian registered or licensed ship which is not owned wholly by persons qualified to own a registered Nigerian ship;
"freeboard" means, in the case of any ship which is marked with a deck line, the height from the water to the upper edge of the deck line, and, in the case of any other ship, the height amid ships from the water to the upper edge of the deck from which the depth of hold as stated in the register is measured;
"freight" includes passage money and hire;
"go to sea" or "proceed to sea" includes the getting under way for the purpose or going to sea;
"gross tons", or "gross tonnage", in relation to any ship, means the tonnage of the ship determined in accordance with the tonnage regulations, without making the dcductions directed by those regulations to be made for the purpose of ascertaining registered tonnage;
"Federal Government" means the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
"inland waters ship" means a ship which is authorised only to ply within inland waters;
"inspector" means any inspector appointed for the purposes of this Act;
"international load line ship" means a load line ship or one hundred and fifty tons gross tonnage or more which carries cargo or passengers;
"international voyage" means a voyage from a Port in one country to a Port in another country and "short international voyage" means an international voyage as so defined in the course of which a ship is not more than two hundred nautical miles from a port or place in which passengers and crew could be placed in safety but no account shall be taken of any deviation by a ship from the ship's intended voyage due solely to stress or weather or any other circumstances that the master or the owner or charterer, if any, of the ship could not have prevented or forestalled;
"legal personal representative" means any person, constituted executor, administrator or other representative of a deceased person by any probate, administration or other instrument;
"load lines" means the marks indicating the several maximum depths to which
a ship is entitled to be loaded in various circumstances prescribed by the load line rules;
"Load Line Convention ship" means an international load line ship registered in or belonging to a country to which the Load Line Convention applies;
"Load line rules" means rules made or deemed to have been made pursuant to the Merchant Shipping Load Lines Regulations as amended from time to time;
"Local load line ship" means a load line ship which-
(a) is of less than one hundred and fifty tons gross tonnage, or
(b) does not carry cargo or passengers;
"Marine Board" means a marine board constituted under this Act;
"marine officer" means a deck or naval officer with the qualification of Class 1 Deck (Master Marine Certificate of Competency, covered by Chapter II of Standard Training Certification and Watch-keeping 1995 Convention;
"master" means any person, other than a pilot, having lawful command or charge of a ship;
"merchant ship" means any ship other than a fishing vessel or a naval vessel;
"Minister" means the Minister charged with responsibility for matters relating to merchant shipping; and
"Ministry" has a corresponding meaning;
"motor ship" means a ship propelled by mechanical power other than steam;
"national colours" means the national colours of Nigeria;
"near coastal trade limits" means the west coast of Africa between Cape Verde in the north and the mouth of the River Congo in the South;
"near coastal trade ship" means a ship which is authorised to ply only within coastaI trade Iimits;
"Nigerian citizen" means a Nigerian citizen as defined in the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999;
"Nigerian Government ship" means a ship which belongs to the Government of the Federation or, of a State; but does not include a ship which forms part of the Nigerian Navy;
"Nigerian licensed ship" means a ship licensed by virtue of this Act;
"Nigerian ship" means a ship-
(a) which is registered or licensed in Nigeria under this Act, or
(b) not exceeding eighty registered tonnage employed solely on the coasts or inland waters of Nigeria and exempted under this Act from being registered;
"officer" when used in relation to a ship, means the master, mate or engineer of the ship, by whatever name called and whether certificated or not; and also any radio officer qualified in accordance with the radio rules;
"officer of customs" has the same meaning as the word "officer" in the Customs and Excise Management Act;
"owner" in relation to a ship includes a demise or bare boat charterer and a managing owner;
"passenger" means any person carried on a ship, other than-
(a) a person employed or engaged in any capacity on board the ship on the business of the ship;
(b) a person on board the ship in pursuance of an obligation laid upon the master to carry shipwrecked, distressed or other persons, or by reason of any circumstance that the master or owner or the charterer, if any, could not have prevented or forestalled, and
(c) a child under one year of age;
"passenger ship" means a ship which is constructed for or which is habitually or on any particular occasion used for, carrying more than twelve passengers;
"person in command" in relation to any aircraft, means, in any case where a person other than the pilot in charge is in command, that person and in any other case, the pilot in charge;
"pilot" in relation to any ship, means any person not belonging to the ship who has the conduct of the ship;
"pleasure yacht" means a ship, however propelled, used exclusively for pleasure and not for carrying passengers or cargo for hire or reward or for the transport or entertainment of lodgers at any institution, hotel, private-hotel, boarding house, lodging house, guest house or other establishment;
"port" means a place for arriving, loading and unloading of ships and includes a harbour, piers jetty and lighter terminals;
"Port Health Officer" includes the Chief Medical Adviser of the Federation and any officer for the time being performing the duties of a Port Health Officer;
"port or place of registry" in relation to any ship, means the port or place at which the ship is for the time being registered;
"proper return port", in relation to a seaman or cadet discharged or left behind abroad, means-
(a) the port at which the seaman or cadet was taken on board, or
(b) a port in a country of which the seaman or cadet is a national, or
(c) a port agreed to as such by the seaman or cadet;
"radio navigational aid" means the radio apparatus on board a ship, being apparatus designed for the purpose of determining the position or directions of ships or other objects;
"radio rules" means the rules made or deemed to have been made under this Act;
"radio surveyor" means a radio surveyor appointed or recognised as such under this Act;
"Registrar" means the Registrar of ships under this Act;
"sea-going ship" means a ship which is not a near coastal trade ship or an inland waters ship;
"safety certificate" means a safety certificate issued pursuant to this Act or a regulation made under this Act;
"Safety Convention" means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea signed at London on the 18th day of November, 1974 and any protocol and amendment to or replacement of the Convention and any Rules annexed to the Convention;
"Safety Convention Certificate" means any safety certificate issued in accordance with the Safety Convention;
"Safety Convention Ship" means a ship registered in or belonging to a country to which the Safety Convention applies, being a ship that is subject to the provisions of the Safety Convention;
"sailing ship" means a ship propelled solely by sails;
"salvage" includes all expenses properly incurred by the salvor in the performance of salvage services;
"scientific referee" means an expert appointed by the Minister to provide specialist opinion on scientific matters when in doubt;
"seaman" means any person (except a master, pilot or cadet, or a person temporarily employed on the ship while in port) employed or engaged in any capacity on board any ship;
"ship" means a vessel of any type whatsoever not permanently attached to the sea-bed, including dynamically supported craft, submersibles of any other floating craft which shall include but not limited to Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) platform as well as Floating Storage and Off loading (FSO) platform;
"Ship Registry" means the Central Ship Registry and such other places as the Minister may by notice in Gazette designate as places for the registration of Nigerian ships;
"Superintendent or Superintendent Officer" means an officer appointed to take charge of the Seafarer Services Office and subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of section 91 of this Act, includes any officer appointed under subsection (2) of that section;
"surveyor of ships" means a surveyor of ships appointed under or recognised as such by this Act;
"tackle" means in relation to a vessel, the tackle, machinery, gear, apparatus and appliances used on board a ship for loading and unloading the ship;
"tidal water" means any part of the sea, or of a river within the ebb and flow of the tide at Ordinary spring tides;
"tone", "registered ton". "tonnage" or "registered tonnage" means the registered tonnage of the ship calculated in accordance with the Tonnage Regulations;
"vessel" means anything constructed or used for carriage on, through or under water of persons or goods and includes a hovercraft and aircraft when waterborne;
"wreck" includes-
(a) flotsam, jetsam and derelict found in the waters or on the shores of Nigeria;
(b) cargo, stores, tackle or equipment;
(c) the personal property of shipwrecked persons; and,
(d) any wrecked aircraft or any part and the aircraft.
(2)
In this Act any reference to a ship built or constructed before or after any date shall be construed as a reference to a ship the keel of which has been laid before or after that date, as the case may be.