(1)
Subject to subsection (5) below, a person commits an offence if he unlawfully and intentionally—
.
(a)
destroys a ship or a fixed platform,
.
(b)
damages a ship, its cargo or a fixed platform so as to endanger, or to be likely to endanger, the safe navigation of the ship, or as the case may be, the safety of the platform, or
.
(c)
commits on board a ship or on a fixed platform an act of violence which is likely to endanger the safe navigation of the ship, or as the case may be, the safety of the platform.
.
(2)
Subject to subsection (5) below, a person commits an offence if he unlawfully and intentionally places, or causes to be placed, on a ship or fixed platform any device or substance which—
.
(a)
in the case of a ship, is likely to destroy the ship or is likely so to damage it or its cargo as to endanger its safe navigation, or
.
(b)
in the case of a fixed platform, is likely to destroy the fixed platform or so to damage it as to endanger its safety.
.
(3)
Nothing in subsection (2) above is to be construed as limiting the circumstances in which the commission of any act—
.
(a)
may constitute an offence under subsection (1) above, or
.
(b)
may constitute attempting or conspiring to commit, or aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring or inciting, or being art and part in, the commission of such an offence.
.
(4)
Except as provided by subsection (5) below, subsections (1) and (2) above apply whether any such act as is mentioned in those subsections is committed in the United Kingdom or elsewhere and whatever the nationality of the person committing the act.
.
(5)
Subsections (1) and (2) above do not apply in relation to any act committed in relation to a warship or any other ship used as a naval auxiliary or in customs or police service unless—
.
(a)
the person committing the act is a United Kingdom national, or
.
(b)
his act is committed in the United Kingdom, or
.
(c)
the ship is used in the naval or customs service of the United Kingdom or in the service of any police force in the United Kingdom.
.
(6)
A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.
.
(7)
In this section—
.
act of violence means—
(a)
any act done in the United Kingdom which constitutes the offence of murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, culpable homicide or assault or an offence under section 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28 or 29 of the Offences against the M1Person Act 1861 or under section 2 of the M2Explosive Substances Act 1883, and
.
(b)
any act done outside the United Kingdom which, if done in the United Kingdom, would constitute such an offence as is mentioned in paragraph (a) above, and
.
unlawfully—
(a)
in relation to the commission of an act in the United Kingdom, means so as (apart from this Act) to constitute an offence under the law of the part of the United Kingdom in which the act is committed, and
.
(b)
in relation to the commission of an act outside the United Kingdom, means so that the commission of the act would (apart from this Act) have been an offence under the law of England and Wales if it had been committed in England and Wales or of Scotland if it had been committed in Scotland.
