IMRAY, LAURIE, NORIE & WILSON, LTD.,

CHART AND NAUTICAL BOOK PUBLISHERS,

156, MINORIES, LONDON, E

1908.

U.VA.

JAN 2 5 1990

LAW LIBRARY

INTRODUCTORY.

THE chief object of the following treatise is to afford assistance to Shipowners and Captains when abroad, or when unable to obtain professional guidance. It has therefore been written as concisely and simply as possible, avoiding all case-references or other unnecessary technicalities, and details which might puzzle the lay reader.

The fact of this brochure having passed through five editions rendered it evident that it had fulfilled the original design, and conferred a real benefit upon those for whom it was intended. However, the numerous material alterations afterwards made in the Merchant Shipping Law, both by statutory enactment and judicial decision, rendered a revision necessary, and this was carried out in the Sixth Edition by W. Mills Roche, Esq., Solicitor, of Sunderland, who also added new chapters dealing with "Inquiries into Shipping Casualties" and "Unseaworthiness," with a complete digest of all the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Acts then in force.

The Sixth Edition having met with due public support, a new issue was considered advisable, owing to several important changes since that date, including the codification