(1) Where a seaman belonging to a Saint Lucian ship is left at a place other than a proper return port, the master of the ship shall, subject to this section and as soon as practicable, enter in the official log book a statement of the effects left on board by the seaman and an account of wages due to him or her at the time when he or she was left behind.
(2) On the termination of the voyage during which the seaman was left behind, the master shall furnish to the Registrar of Seamen or proper officer, within 48 hours after the arrival of the ship at the port at which the voyage terminates, a delivery account and a retention account.
(3) The master shall, if required by the Registrar of Seamen or proper officer, furnish such vouchers as may be reasonably required to verify the delivery and retention accounts.
(4) The master of a ship shall deliver to the Registrar of Seamen or proper officer, if he or she will receive them, the effects of a seaman as shown in a delivery account and, subject to any reimbursement allowed under subsection (5), the amount due on account of wages as shown in that account, and the Registrar of Seamen or proper officer shall give to the master a receipt for any effects or amount so delivered.
(5) The master of a ship is entitled to retain out of the wages any sums shown in a retention account that appear to the Registrar of Seamen or proper officer to be owing or payable to the master of the ship; and for that purpose the Registrar of Seamen or proper officer shall allow those sums to be retained by the master out of the amount due on account of wages shown in the delivery account and, so far as that amount is not sufficient, to be raised and paid to the master out of the effects.
(6) Before allowing any sum to be retained or to be raised and paid, the Registrar of Seamen or proper officer may require that evidence be provided by statutory declaration or otherwise that the sums are owing or payable to the master of the ship.
(7) The Registrar of Seamen or proper officer shall deliver the remainder of the wages and effects to such person at such time and in such manner as may be prescribed, and shall render such accounts in respect thereof as the Minister may direct.
(8) In this section—
(a) “delivery account” means an account of the effects and wages of a seaman left behind or owing at the time a seaman leaves or is discharged from the ship; and
(b) “retention account” means an account of any expenses caused to the master or owner of a ship by the absence of a seaman from the ship due to his or her desertion, neglect to join his or her ship, or conduct constituting an offence under section 183 or 184, including, in the case of a seaman who is not entitled to be repatriated at the expense of the master or owner of the ship, any provision made for the return of the seaman to a proper return port.