Registration of Ships Act

(a) Every ship shall, before registry, be marked permanently and conspicuously to the satisfaction of the registering-officer as follows:- (1) its name shall be marked on each of its bows, and its name and the name of its port of registry shall be marked on its stern, on a dark ground in white or yellow letters or on a light ground in black letters, such letters to be of a length not less than one decimetre and of proportionate breadth; (2) its official number shall be cut in on its main beam; and (3) a scale of decimetres, or of metres and decimetres, denoting its draught of water shall be marked on each side of its stern and of its stern post:- (i) in figures at two-decimetre intervals, if the scale is in decimetres; (ii) in figures at each metre interval and at intervening two-decimetre intervals, if the scale is in metres and decimetres; and (iii) the capital letter “M” being placed after each metre figure; the top figure of the scale showing both the metre and (except where it marks a full metre interval) the decimetre figure; the lower line of figures , or figures and letters (as the case may be),coinciding with the draught line denoted thereby, the figures and letters being not less than one decimetre in length and being marked by being cut in and painted white or yellow on a dark ground, or in such other way as the Director-General of the Department of Marine Administration may approve. (b) The registering-officer may exempt any ship or class of ships from all or any of the requirements of subsection (a).