Cap. 234 ст. 164Provision for relief andmaintenanceof distressed seamen. 

Where either -

(a) any seaman or apprentice, whether a citizen of Malta or not, is found in any place and has been shipwrecked from a Maltese ship, or, by reason of having been discharged or left behind from any such ship, is in distress in that place; or

(b) any seaman or apprentice, being a citizen of Malta who has been engaged to serve in a ship belonging to the government of, or registered in, any foreign country, is in distress in any place, the Maltese consular officer at that port, or such person as may be designated in the regulations, shall in accordance with and on the conditions prescribed by those regulations, provide in accordance with this Act for the return of those seamen or apprentices to a proper return port and also provide for their necessary clothing and their maintenance until their departure for such port and, in case of death, for the repatriation of the deceased and for his burial expenses and, in addition, in the case of shipwrecked seamen or apprentices, for the repayment of any expenses incurred in their conveyance to a port after their shipwreck and their maintenance while being so conveyed.