Henry Wrigley on Harbours

So there’s a lot of legal aspects in the job.

An amusing one. I had a situation. I phoned up, there’s a thing called the British Ports Association, and there they have some good top Marine Lawyers there and I said, “Now look here, I’ve got a problem. There’s a Russian ship and he refuses to sail.

What powers do I have?”

They said, “Leave it to us Henry”.

They phoned back and they said, “We’ve found it.”

They said, “Now this hasn’t been repealed, but you arm yourself with a cutlass and you go to a local Tavern and recruit seven men bold and true.”

I said, “OK, then what do I do?”

He said, “You go up to the ship and you challenge the Master three times to sail.”

I said, “What’s the cutlass for?”

He said, “You sever the lines.”

I said, “What are the seven men bold and true for?” “They’re to protect you.”

However, I’m glad to say that the Law has moved on since then and the Harbour Master does have the power and control of movement of vessels and some of the old Marine Law is absolutely delightful. So there you are, but oh there’s so much more.