170.—(1) Where a seaman or apprentice dies as aforesaid and the ship before coming to a port in the United Kingdom touches and remains for forty-eight hours at some port elsewhere, the master shall report the case to the British consular officer at such port, or if the port is in a British possession, to the officer of customs there, and shall give to the officer any information he requires as to the destination of the ship and probable length of the voyage.

(2) That officer may, if he thinks it expedient, require the property to be delivered and paid to him, and shall thereupon give to the master a receipt thereof, and endorse under his hand upon the agreement with the crew such particulars with respect thereto as the Board of Trade require.

(3) The receipt shall be produced by the master to a superintendent within forty-eight hours after his arrival at his port of destination in the United Kingdom.

(4) Where a seaman or apprentice dies as aforesaid and the ship proceeds at once to a port in the United Kingdom without touching and remaining as aforesaid at a port elsewhere, or the consular officer or officer of customs does not require the delivery and payment of the property as aforesaid, the master shall, within forty-eight hours after his arrival at his port of destination in the United Kingdom, deliver and pay the property to the superintendent at that port.

(5) In all cases where a seaman or apprentice dies during the progress of a voyage or engagement, the master shall give to the Board of Trade, or to the superintendent or officer to whom delivery and payment is made as aforesaid, such account in such form as they respectively require of the property of the deceased.

(6) A deduction claimed by the master in such account shall not be allowed unless verified, if an official log-book is required to be kept, by an entry in that book made and attested as required by this Act, and also by such other vouchers (if any) as may reasonably be required by the Board of Trade or by the superintendent or officer to whom the account is given.

(7) A superintendent in the United Kingdom shall grant to a master, upon due compliance with such provisions of this section as relate to acts to be done at the port of destination, a certificate to that effect; and an officer of customs shall not clear inwards a foreign-going ship without the production of that certificate.