DISTRESSED SEAMEN ġ S.L.234.02 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 234.02
DISTRESSED SEAMEN REGULATIONS
1st June, 1973
LEGAL NOTICE 56 of 1973, as amended by Legal Notice 14 of 2002.
Title.
Regulations.
Interpretation.
requires -
"proper authority" means, if in Malta, the shipping master, or, if
in a place outside Malta, a Maltese consular officer, of, if there is
no such officer in that place, such officer as is authorised in that
behalf by the Minister or other appropriate authority;
"proper return port" means either the port at which a seaman was
shipped or a port in the country to which he belongs;
"seamen" includes apprentices and every person (except masters
and pilots) employed or engaged in any capacity on board any ship.
Cap. 234.
(2) Words and phrases not otherwise defined in these
regulations shall have the same meaning as is assigned to them in
the Merchant Shipping Act.
Persons entitled to 
relief, etc.
3. (1) The persons entitled to be dealt with under these
regulations, and who are hereinafter referred to as "distressed
seamen", are:
( a ) any seaman, whether a citizen of Malta or not, who is
found in any place and who has been shipwrecked
from a Maltese ship, or, by reason of having been
discharged or left behind from any such ship, is in
distress in that place; and
( b ) any seaman, being a citizen of Malta, who has been
engaged to serve in a ship belonging to the
Government of, or registered in, any foreign country,
is in distress in any place.
(2) If three months have elapsed since a seaman left his last
ship before he applies to the proper authority for relief, he shall not
be entitled to be dealt with under these regulations.
(3) In case of shipwreck, the date on which each seaman will
be entitled to relief may vary according to the time when he ceases
to be employed in connection with the wreck.
Nature and period 
of relief, etc.
4. (1) Distressed seamen are to be relieved and maintained
upon the most reasonable terms possible bur only until
arrangements are made for their return to a proper return port, and
such arrangements are carried into effect.
(2) Distressed seamen may, where necessary, be provided with
medical advice and treatment and supplied with clothing but in no
greater quantity than is absolutely required, and the clothing
2 ġ S.L.234.02 DISTRESSED SEAMEN
supplied shall be of the quality the seaman would normally wear.
(3) The relief and maintenance of a seaman under these
regulations shall continue for as long as is considered necessary by
the proper authority but, in every case in which relief is continued
for more than one month, a special report of the circumstances shall
be furnished by the proper authority to the Registrar-General.
Return of 
distressed seamen.
Substituted by:
L.N. 14 of 2002.
5. (1) Distressed seamen are to be sent to a proper return port
as soon as practicable.
(2) A seaman may be sent to a proper return port by any
reasonable route.
(3) Provision may be made for the return of a seaman, if he is
fit to work, by providing him with suitable employment on board a
ship, proceeding to a proper return port, which is in want of men to
make up its complement, or, if that is not practicable, by providing
him with a passage in any ship or aircraft.
(4) Where a seaman is sent to a proper return port as a member
of a crew, he shall be entitled to the appropriate remuneration for
work done during the voyage.
(5) The question of the return port to which, and the route by
which, a seaman is to be sent shall be decided by the proper
authority who shall have regard both to the convenience of the
seaman and to the expense involved, and also, where such is the
case, to the fact that a ship which is in want of men to make up its
complement is about to proceed to a proper return port or to a port
in the vicinity thereof.
Expenses of 
journey.
6. (1) In any case in which it is found impossible to arrange
for a seaman’s return as prescribed in the last preceding regulation,
the proper authority may provide a seaman with money for his
passage and, as regards any part of the route which is by land, may
pay the expenses of his journey and of his maintenance during the
journey, or provide him with the means to pay such expenses.
(2) Whilst a distressed seaman is in transit to a proper return
port, the proper authority at any place at which that seaman may be
made to defray, on behalf of the authority originally making
arrangements for the distressed seaman’s return to a proper return
port, any expenses on account of that seaman which the authority
originally acting in respect of such seaman could defray.
Certificate by 
proper authority.
Substituted by:
L.N. 14 of 2002.
7. Where a distressed seaman is, for the purposes of his return
to a proper return port, placed on board a Maltese ship, the proper
authority shall endorse on the agreement with the crew of the ship,
the name of the seaman so placed on board under the provisions of
these regulations, specifying the date in which he embarks, the
name and port of registry of the ship on which the seaman was last
engaged, if these are known to the proper authority, and the port to
which the seaman is entitled to be conveyed.
Obligation to 
convey distressed 
seamen.
Amended by:
L.N. 14 of 2002.
8. The master of every Maltese ship, to whatever port it may
be bound, is required to receive on board his ship and afford a
passage and maintenance to all distressed seamen, in compliance
with the certificate endorsed on the agreement with the crew by the
DISTRESSED SEAMEN ġ S.L.234.02 3
proper authority, not exceeding one for every fifty net tons, and
shall, during the passage, provide every such distressed seaman
with proper berth or sleeping place, effectually protected against
sea and weather.
Rates of passage.
Substituted by:
L.N. 14 of 2002.
9. On arrival at the port to which a seaman has been so
conveyed, the Master shall produce to the proper authority at that
port a certificate, signed by the proper authority originally making
arrangements for the distressed seaman’s return to a proper return
port, specifying the number and names of distressed seamen placed
on board and the time when each of them was received on board.
On the production by the master of the said certificate and of the
declaration referred to in article 168(3) of the Act and on satisfying
himself that the seaman has been conveyed, maintained and
provided for by the master in excess of the number, if any, wanted
to make up the complement of his crew, the proper authority shall
pay to the master against a receipt an allowance at the rate of two
liri per day for every day (including part of a day) on which that
seaman is on board the ship.
Rescued seamen.
Amended by:
L.N. 14 of 2002.
10. Whenever a ship with distressed seamen on board, who
have been rescued or picked up at sea, arrives at a port, the proper
authority may pay the master of the ship for their subsistence an
allowance at the rate set out in regulation 9.
Seamen mentally 
deranged.
Amended by:
L.N. 14 of 2002.
11. (1) In order to provide for the passage to a proper return
port of a distressed seaman suffering from mental derangement, the
proper authority, with the object of ensuring that requisite care and
attendance shall be given to such seaman during the voyage, may
make a special arrangement with the master and agree to pay, if
necessary, such sum for the passage, in addition to the allowance at
the rate set out in regulation 9, as may appear fair and reasonable
under the circumstances.
(2) A copy of the agreement so entered into shall in every case
be forwarded to the Registrar-General as soon as possible, and also.
in any case where it is desirable to send the seaman to a foreign
port, to the proper authority at that port.
(3) In the case of a seaman arriving under such circumstances
at a port, the proper authority at that port may, in addition to the
allowance at the rate set out in regulation 9, pay to the master the
amount of the extra passage money on production of such an
agreement and upon being satisfied that the seaman has received
the special care and attendance agreed to. An immediate notice of
such a payment, together with the original agreement and the
receipt of the Master for the passage money, shall be sent to the
Registrar-General.
Certain cases of 
illness.
12. In the case of a seaman discharged or left behind suffering
from any illness due to his own wilful act or default or to his own
misbehaviour, who is to be dealt with under these regulations, the
expense of providing necessary surgical and medical advice and
attendance and medicines, as well as the expenses of the
maintenance of such seaman until he is cured, or dies, or is returned
to a proper return port, and of his conveyance to such port, and in
the case of death the expenses, if any, of his burial, shall be met as
far as possible out of his wages.
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Expenses to be a 
charge on the 
Consolidated 
Fund.
13. Saving the provisions of regulation 12, all expenses
incurred and payments made by the proper authority under the
provisions of these regulations shall be a charge on the
Consolidated Fund.
