This Act may be cited for all Purposes as "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1854…"

CCXXI. Any Three of the Crew of any British Ship may complain to any Officer in command to any of Her Majesty’s Ships, or any British Consular Officer, or any Shipping Master, or any Chief Officer of Customs, that the Provisions or Water for the Use of the Crew are at any Time of bad Quality, unfit for Use, or deficient in Quantity; and such Officer may thereupon examine the said Provisions or Water, or cause them to be examined; and if on Examination such Provisions or Water are found to be of bad Quality and unfit for Use, or to be deficient in Quantity, the Person making such Examination shall signify the same in Writing to the Master of the Ship; and if such Master does not there-upon provide other proper Provisions or Water in lieu of any so signified to be of a bad Quality and unfit for Use, or does not procure the requisite Quantity of any so signified to be insufficient in Quantity of any so signified as aforesaid to be of a bad Quality and unfit for Use, he shall in every such Case incur a Penalty not exceeding Twenty Pounds; and upon every such Examination as aforesaid the Officers making or directing the same shall enter a Statement of the Result of the Examination in the Official Log, and shall send a Report thereof to the Board of Trade, and such Report, if produced out of the Custody of such Board or its Officers, shall be received in Evidence in any legal Proceeding.

CCXXII. If the Officer to whom any such Complaint as last aforesaid is made certifies in such Statement as aforesaid that there was no reasonable Ground for such Complaint, each of the Parties so complaining shall be liable to forfeit to the Owner out of his Wages a Sum not exceeding One Week’s Wages.

CCXXIII. In the following Cases, (that is to say,)

1. If during a Voyage the allowance of any of the Provisions which any Seaman has by his Agreement stipulated for is reduced (except in accordance with any Regulations for Reduction by way of Punishment contained in the Agreement, and also except for any Time during which such Seaman wilfully and without sufficient Cause refuses or neglects to perform his Duty, or is lawfully under Confinement for Misconduct, either on board or on shore);
2. If it is shown that any of such Provisions are or have during the Voyage been bad in Quality and unfit for Use;

The Seaman shall receive by way of Compensation for such Reduction or bad Quality, according to the Time of its Continuance, the following Sums, to be paid to him in addition to and be recoverable as Wages; (that is to say,)

1. If his Allowance is reduced by any Quantity not exceeding One Third of the Quantity specified in the Agreement, a Sum not exceeding Fourpence a Day;
2. If his Allowance is reduced by more than One Third of such Quantity, Eightpence a Day;
3. In respect of such bad Quality as aforesaid, a Sum not exceeding One Shilling a Day: But if it is shown to the Satisfaction of the Court before which the Case is tried that any Provisions the Allowance of which has been reduced could not be procured or supplied in proper Quantities, and that proper and equivalent Substitutes were supplied in lieu thereof, the Court shall take such Circumstances into consideration, and shall modify or refuse Compensation as the Justice of the Case may require.

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