14.—(1) The owner of a ship who, or who it is alleged, has incurred a liability under Article 7 of the Convention may (whether proceedings for the recovery of compensation in respect of damage incurred resulting from a specific incident have been instituted against him or her, or not) apply to the High Court for an order limiting his or her liability in accordance with Article 9 of the Convention.

(2) Upon application being made under subsection (1) by the owner of the ship concerned (hereafter in this section referred to as “the applicant”), the High Court shall—

(a) if satisfied that were it to find that the applicant had incurred a liability under the said Article 7 he or she would be entitled to limit his or her liability in accordance with the said Article 9, and

(b) if the applicant pays into court, in accordance with paragraph 3 of that Article, such sum as, in the opinion of the court is equal to the maximum amount of compensation that the owner of the ship would, if he or she so limited his or her liability, be liable to pay in respect of damage caused as a result of the incident concerned,

make an order—

(i) declaring that where the applicant is so found to have incurred a liability under the said Article 7 the said applicant's liability in respect of damage resulting from the incident concerned shall be limited to the amount of the sum so paid into court, and

(ii) that such amounts as may be determined by that court be paid out of the said sum, in accordance with paragraph 4 of Article 9 of the Convention, to such persons (if any) as the court determines are entitled to receive compensation from the said applicant in respect of damage incurred resulting from the incident concerned.