maritime law Maritime law or admiralty law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between pri ...

, a sea protest is a

notarized A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

statement obtained after a ship enters port after a rough voyage. Its purpose is to protect the ship's charterer or owner from liability for damage to the cargo, the ship or to other ships in a collision, where this was caused by the perils of the sea (for example, bad weather). If it is known or suspected that such damage has occurred, the captain will make a sworn "protest in common form" at the office of a

notary public A notary public ( notary or public notary; notaries public) of the common law is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with general financial transactions, estates, deeds, powers- ...

, or a

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

. If the full extent of any damage caused only becomes apparent while or after the cargo is unloaded, the captain may return to the office of the notary public to extend their protest. If a sea protest is not made, the owner or charterer may be liable for the damage caused and may be unable to produce the

ship's log A logbook (a ship's logs or simply log) is a record of important events in the management, operation, and navigation of a ship. It is essential to traditional navigation, and must be filled in at least daily. The term originally referred to a b ...

(which would have recorded the relevant incidents) as evidence in court.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, title=Sea Protests, url=http://www.pfri.uniri.hr/~bopri/documents/30_LettersofProtest.pdf, work=mariners.narod.ru/seaprotest.html, publisher=www.pfri.uniri.hr, accessdate=30 May 2013 {{cite book, last=Cartner, first=John, title=International Law of the Shipmaster, year=2009, publisher=

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, isbn=978-1-84311-807-7, page=267, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xnlQC7nrDXcC&pg=PA267 Maritime law