(1) Where—
(a) any injury or damage has in any part of the world been caused to any property belonging to the Government, a citizen of Saint Lucia or a body corporate resident in Saint Lucia, by any foreign ship; or
(b) a claim is made for damages by or on behalf of any citizen of Saint Lucia; in respect of personal injuries, including fatal injuries, against the owner of a foreign ship,
and at any time thereafter that ship or any other ship wholly and beneficially owned by the same owner is found in Saint Lucia a judge of the High Court may, upon being satisfied that the damage or injury was probably caused by the misconduct or want of skill of the master or crew of the ship causing the damage or injury, issue an order for the purposes of subsection (2).
(2) An order made under this section shall be addressed to any maritime officer or such other officer as may be named by the judge in such order, and shall require that officer to detain the ship named or identified therein, until such time as the owner, master or consignee of the ship—
(a) has made satisfaction in respect of the injury or damage referred to in subsection (1); or
(b) has given security to be approved by the judge, to abide by the result of any action, suit or other legal proceeding that may be instituted in respect of such injury or damage and to pay all costs and damages that may be awarded,
and the officer to whom such order is addressed shall detain the ship accordingly.
(3) Where it appears that, before an application can be made under subsection (1), the ship in respect of which the application is to be made will depart from Saint Lucia the ship may be detained so as to allow the application to be made and the result of the application to be communicated to the officer detaining the ship; and that officer shall not be liable for any costs or damages in respect of the detention, unless the detention is proved to have been made without reasonable grounds.
(4) In any legal proceedings relating to any injury or damage referred to in subsection (1), the person giving security shall be made defendant and shall be stated to be the owner of the ship that has caused the injury or damage.
(5) The production of an order of a judge, made in relation to any security referred to in this section, shall be conclusive evidence of the liability of the defendant to the proceedings.