Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

NAVIGATION ACT 1912 - SECT 85

             (1)  Where the service of a seaman belonging to a ship is terminated, before the time contemplated in the seaman's agreement, by reason of the wreck or loss of the ship, the seaman is, subject to this section, entitled to:

                     (a)  conveyance, by or at the cost of the owner of the ship, to the proper return port of the seaman; and

                     (b)  wages, at the rate payable on the day of the termination of the seaman's services, in respect of each day during the period commencing on the day after the day of the termination of the seaman's service to the day on which he or she reaches the port to which the seaman is so conveyed and for a period of one month after he or she reaches that port.

             (2)  A seaman is not entitled to wages in respect of a day on which the seaman's conveyance is delayed by his or her own act, default or neglect.

             (3)  Where:

                     (a)  the period for which a seaman is entitled to wages under subsection (1) is less than 2 months; and

                     (b)  the seaman is unemployed after he or she reaches the port to which he or she is conveyed under that subsection;

the seaman is entitled to wages, at the rate payable on the day of the termination of his or her service, for each day on which the seaman is so unemployed, not being a day which is more than 2 months after the day on which the seaman's services were terminated.

             (4)  A seaman is not entitled to wages under subsection (3):

                     (a)  where the owner shows that the unemployment was not due to the wreck or loss of the ship; or

                     (b)  for a day in respect of which the owner shows that the seaman was able to obtain suitable employment.

             (5)  Where a seaman whose service is terminated by the wreck or loss of the ship was engaged by the run, the seaman is entitled to the wages to which he or she would have been entitled if the agreement had not been terminated until the end of the run, subject to all just deductions.

             (6)  In this section:

"seaman" includes a person employed or engaged in any capacity on board the ship, but, in the case of a ship which is a fishing vessel, does not include a person who is entitled to be remunerated only by a share in the profits or the gross earnings of the working of the ship.

"wages" includes such allowances as are prescribed.