162. Mode of providing for return of seamen to proper return port.- (1) A seaman may be sent to a proper return port by any reasonable route either by sea or land or if necessary by air or partly by any one and partly by any other of these modes. (2) Provision shall be made for the return of the seaman as to the whole of the route if it is by sea or as to any part of the route which is by sea by placing the seaman on board an Indian ship which is in want of men to make up its complement, or, if that is not practicable, by providing the seaman with a passage in any ship, Indian or foreign, or with the money for his passage, and, as to any part of the route which is by plan or air, by paying the expenses of his journey and of his maintenance during the journey or providing him with means to pay those expenses. (3) Where the master of a ship is required under this Part to provide for the return of a discharged seaman to a proper return port, the master, may, instead of providing the seaman's passage or the expenses of his journey or of providing the seaman with means to pay his passage or those expenses, deposit with the proper officer such sum as that officer considers sufficient to defray the expenses of the return of the seaman to a proper return port. |
