In dealing with the question of registration, the second portion of the Act of 1854, which contains ninety-one clauses, while it specifies in detail what persons are qualified to become owners of British merchant ships, likewise points out in what proportion of ownership the vessel may be held, inflicts penalties for non-attendance to these rules, and on builders for issuing false certificates. It also requires all change of owners or masters to be endorsed on the register; specifies the condition on which new certificates may be issued, and how they are to be disposed of in the event of shipwreck; the mode of transfer in case of sale, death, or bankruptcy is likewise clearly defined; as also the registration of all mortgages in their priority of claim, the mortgagee having power of sale without being held liable for any of the responsibilities of ownership.[141] [Sidenote: The “Rule of the Sea.”] The fourth part of the Act is almost as important as the third, which deals, as we have seen, with the qualifications and duties of masters, officers, and seamen. It refers to the safety and prevention of accidents, a subject which has created much controversy of late, and to which reference will be made more fully hereafter. This important section of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 requires all sea-going vessels to be provided with a certain number of boats in proportion to their tonnage and the trade in which they are engaged. It lays down rules as to the meeting and passing of ships at sea, and the use of lights and fog-signals—a regulation of daily increasing importance and more completely carried out in 1863, from the vast number of vessels now traversing the ocean, and especially the English and other great channels of commerce. Various necessary and excellent regulations are embodied for the construction and equipment of steam-ships, without interfering with their form, leaving their owners and builders every possible scope for improvement, and compelling the fulfilment of certain conditions necessary to insure safety without relieving their owners from their just responsibility to the public. Vessels built of iron must be separated into water-tight compartments, which has since been repealed, and, in the case of steamers, the engine-room must be kept entirely distinct from the hold and cabins; passenger ships (of which further notice will hereafter be taken) are under special regulations with regard to surveys and signals, the use of fire-engines, and the shelter of all persons conveyed on deck. [Sidenote: Pilots and pilotage.]