USA Foreclosure Wiki

Maritime Liens and Preferred Ship Mortgages (46 U.S.C. Chapter 313)

11 min read

Maritime Liens and Preferred Ship Mortgages (46 U.S.C. Chapter 313)

Asset page (vessels — lien regime). Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-10-16.

What it is

Federal law — chapter 313 of title 46, the Commercial Instruments and Maritime Liens Act codified at 46 U.S.C. §§ 31301–31343 — defines two kinds of security that run against a vessel itself rather than against its owner:

  1. the preferred ship mortgage, a recorded, consensual security interest; and
  2. the maritime lien, a non-possessory, often unrecorded, privileged claim that arises by operation of law (for necessaries, crew wages, salvage, maritime torts and other claims).

Both are enforced in rem in federal court (admiralty-arrest-and-marshals-sale). Their defining feature for forced-sale buyers: a maritime lien “accompanies the property into the hands of a bona fide purchaser. It can be executed and divested only by a proceeding in rem” (Vandewater v. Mills, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 82, 89 (1856), quoted in barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018, 889 F.3d 517 (9th Cir. 2018), https://static.case.law/f3d/889/cases/0517-01.json , retrieved 2026-10-16). Hub: vessels.

All statutory quotations on this page are from Cornell LII’s U.S. Code text, retrieved 2026-10-16, at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/46/

.

Definitions (46 U.S.C. § 31301)

  • “Necessaries” “includes repairs, supplies, towage, and the use of a dry dock or marine railway” (§ 31301(4)).
  • “Preferred maritime lien” means a maritime lien on a vessel “(A) arising before a preferred mortgage was filed under section 31321 …; (B) for damage arising out of maritime tort; (C) for wages of a stevedore when employed directly by a person listed in section 31341 …; (D) for wages of the crew of the vessel; (E) for general average; or (F) for salvage, including contract salvage” (§ 31301(5)).
  • “Preferred mortgage” includes, for §§ 31325–31326, a foreign-flag mortgage executed under, and registered in a public register under, the laws of the vessel’s flag state (§ 31301(6)(B)).

The preferred ship mortgage

Requirements (§ 31322(a))

A preferred mortgage is a mortgage, “whenever made,” that “(1) includes the whole of the vessel; (2) is filed in substantial compliance with section 31321 …; (3)(A) covers a documented vessel; or (B) covers a vessel for which an application for documentation is filed …,” plus mortgagee-eligibility rules for fishery-endorsed vessels of 100 feet or more (§ 31322(a)(4)). Mortgages are filed and recorded at the National Vessel Documentation Center (46 CFR 67.213; see uscg-national-vessel-documentation-center).

State-titled vessels (§ 31322(d))

A security interest “perfected under State law covering the whole of a vessel titled in a State is deemed to be a preferred mortgage if — (A) the Secretary certifies that the State titling system complies with the Secretary’s guidelines … and (B) information on the vessel … is made available to the Secretary under chapter 125.” Once preferred, it “continues to be a preferred mortgage even if the vessel is no longer titled in the State” (§ 31322(d)(3)). Lien claimants against such a vessel “must record and discharge the lien as provided by the law of the State in which the vessel is titled” (§ 31343(d)).

Amount and enforcement (§ 31325)

  • “A preferred mortgage is a lien on the mortgaged vessel in the amount of the outstanding mortgage indebtedness secured by the vessel” (§ 31325(a)).
  • On default the mortgagee may (1) “enforce the preferred mortgage lien in a civil action in rem”; (2) sue in personam “for the amount of the outstanding indebtedness or any deficiency”; and (3) exercise “any other remedy (including an extrajudicial remedy)” if “the remedy is allowed under applicable law” and will not violate the foreign-transfer restrictions of §§ 56101–56102 (§ 31325(b)).
  • The in rem action is in the district courts, “exclusive of the courts of the States” (§ 31325(c)).
  • The court “may appoint a receiver and authorize the receiver to operate the mortgaged vessel” (§ 31325(e)(1)).

Extrajudicial remedy — what the buyer does not get (§ 31325(f))

Before title to a documented vessel “is transferred by an extrajudicial remedy, the person exercising the remedy shall give notice of the proposed transfer to the Secretary,” to earlier recorded mortgagees, and to holders of recorded unexpired notices of claim of lien (§ 31325(f)(1)). “Failure to give notice … shall not affect the transfer of title to a vessel. However, the rights of any holder of a maritime lien or a preferred mortgage on the vessel shall not be affected by a transfer of title by an extrajudicial remedy exercised under this section, regardless of whether notice is required by this subsection or given” (§ 31325(f)(2), emphasis added). The Coast Guard records an extra-judicial repossession and sale on (a) the foreclosed instrument, (b) the foreclosing party’s affidavit of “the reasons for foreclosure, the chronology of foreclosure, the statute(s) under which foreclosure was made,” (c) “[e]vidence of substantial compliance,” and (d) a bill of sale “from the foreclosing party as agent for the defaulting owner(s)” (46 CFR 67.83, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-46/section-67.83 , retrieved 2026-10-16).

Maritime liens for necessaries (§ 31342) and authority to bind the vessel (§ 31341)

“[A] person providing necessaries to a vessel on the order of the owner or a person authorized by the owner — (1) has a maritime lien on the vessel; (2) may bring a civil action in rem to enforce the lien; and (3) is not required to allege or prove in the action that credit was given to the vessel” (§ 31342(a)); the section “does not apply to a public vessel” (§ 31342(b)).

Persons “presumed to have authority to procure necessaries” are the owner, the master, “a person entrusted with the management of the vessel at the port of supply,” and an officer or agent appointed by the owner, a charterer, an owner pro hac vice, or “an agreed buyer in possession” (§ 31341(a)); “[a] person tortiously or unlawfully in possession or charge of a vessel has no authority” (§ 31341(b)).

Whether a marina’s dockage or storage charges are “necessaries” giving rise to a federal maritime lien (as opposed to a state possessory lien) was not settled from a primary source retrieved this session (needs_verification). The answer matters for marina-and-storage-lien-sales-of-vessels.

Priority on a court sale (§ 31326)

When a district court sells a vessel in an in rem action, each claim terminated by the sale “attaches, in the same amount and in accordance with their priorities to the proceeds,” except that:

  1. “the preferred mortgage lien … has priority over all claims against the vessel (except for expenses and fees allowed by the court, costs imposed by the court, and preferred maritime liens)”; and
  2. “for a foreign vessel whose mortgage has not been guaranteed under chapter 537 …, the preferred mortgage lien is subordinate to a maritime lien for necessaries provided in the United States” (§ 31326(b)).

Resulting order, as far as the statute states it:

RankClaimAuthority
1Court expenses, fees and costs, including custodia legis expenses of preserving the vessel under arrest§ 31326(b)(1); ge-credit-v-drill-ship-mission-exploration-1982
2Preferred maritime liens: pre-mortgage maritime liens; maritime tort; directly employed stevedore wages; crew wages; general average; salvage§§ 31301(5), 31326(b)(1)
3Preferred mortgage (U.S.-flag, or foreign-flag with chapter 537 guarantee)§ 31326(b)(1)
3aFor an unguaranteed foreign-flag mortgage: U.S. necessaries liens rank ahead of it§ 31326(b)(2)
4Other maritime liens (e.g., necessaries arising after the preferred mortgage was filed) and other claims§ 31326(b) (“in accordance with their priorities”)

Ranking within a class (e.g., the traditional reverse-chronological “last in time” rule among maritime liens of the same class, or tort-versus-contract ordering) is general maritime law not codified in § 31326; no primary case establishing it was retrieved this session (needs_verification).

Crew-wage advances. “One who advances money to pay crew’s wages is entitled to a maritime lien of the same rank,” and a caterer’s pre-seizure crew services were recognized as a preferred crew-wage lien priming the mortgage — ge-credit-v-drill-ship-mission-exploration-1982 (668 F.2d 811 (5th Cir. 1982), https://static.case.law/f2d/668/cases/0811-01.json , retrieved 2026-10-16).

Seaman’s maintenance and cure. A seaman’s claim for maintenance and cure is enforced as a maritime lien against the vessel in rem; see barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018, where the lien survived a bankruptcy trustee’s purported free-and-clear sale.

Recording notice of a lien claim (§ 31343)

A person claiming a lien on a documented vessel (or one with a pending application) “may record with the Secretary a notice of that person’s lien claim,” stating the nature, date established, amount, and claimant, “signed and acknowledged” (§ 31343(a)), with a declaration that copies were sent to the owner, earlier lien-notice filers and recorded mortgagees (§ 31343(b)). The Coast Guard’s regulation limits recording: “A notice of claim of lien is not entitled to filing and recording unless the vessel … is covered by a preferred mortgage … outstanding at the time the lien is filed and recorded” (46 CFR 67.255). A recorded notice “shall expire 3 years after the date the lien was established” (§ 31343(e)(1)); the district courts may declare a vessel not subject to a claimed lien, with fee-shifting (§ 31343(c)(2)). The section “does not alter in any respect the law pertaining to the establishment of a maritime lien, the remedy provided by such a lien, or the defenses thereto, including any defense under the doctrine of laches” (§ 31343(f)).

Buyer consequence: recording is optional and limited to mortgaged vessels, so the abstract of title will not show most maritime liens. An unrecorded necessaries, wage, tort or salvage lien can exist on a vessel with a clean abstract.

Waiver and subordination (§ 31305)

The chapter “does not prevent a mortgagee or other lien holder from waiving or subordinating at any time by agreement or otherwise the lien holder’s right to a lien, the priority or, if a preferred mortgage lien, the preferred status of the lien.”

How each forced-sale channel treats these interests

ChannelPreferred mortgageMaritime liensAuthority
Federal in rem court saleTerminated; attaches to proceedsTerminated; attach to proceeds§ 31326
Mortgagee extrajudicial saleOther preferred mortgages unaffectedUnaffected§ 31325(f)(2)
State marina/storage lien sale (Florida)Survives as “a prior lien perfected under state or federal law”Survive — a non-admiralty sale cannot divest themFla. Stat. § 328.17(11); the-adeline-1918; barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018
State-court execution or perishable saleneeds_verification (likely survives as a recorded federal lien)Survive and “adhere to the vessel in the hands of the purchaser”the-adeline-1918
Bankruptcy § 363 salePer § 363(f) and orderExtinguished only where admiralty law permits, e.g., lienor submitted to the bankruptcy court; not where an admiralty court already held the vesselin-re-millenium-seacarriers-2005; barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018

▸ For Buyers / Operators — Two facts drive pricing: (1) only an in rem federal sale clears maritime liens (§ 31326), and (2) most maritime liens are not of record (§ 31343 recording is optional and mortgage-dependent). Outside the in rem channel, unrecorded crew-wage, salvage, tort and necessaries liens are an off-record risk that follows the vessel. See buying-a-vessel-at-a-forced-sale.

▸ For Owners / Debtors — The mortgagee may pursue a deficiency in personam after a sale (§ 31325(b)(2)); a vessel owner may sue to declare a vessel free of a recorded lien notice (§ 31343(c)(2)); recorded notices expire after three years (§ 31343(e)).

Needs verification

  • Whether marina dockage/storage/wharfage is a “necessary” giving rise to a federal maritime lien under § 31342 (and, if so, how it ranks against a preferred mortgage filed earlier).
  • Intra-class priority rules (inverse-order rule; tort vs. contract) — leading cases not retrieved.
  • Effect of a state-court execution sale on a recorded preferred mortgage.
  • Which state titling systems are certified under § 31322(d).
  • Laches/staleness periods for unrecorded maritime liens — leading cases not retrieved.

vessels, admiralty-arrest-and-marshals-sale, marina-and-storage-lien-sales-of-vessels, buying-a-vessel-at-a-forced-sale, uscg-national-vessel-documentation-center, lien-survival, lien-priority-waterfall-reading, good-faith-purchaser, bankruptcy-363-sales, the-adeline-1918, barnes-v-sea-hawaii-rafting-2018, in-re-millenium-seacarriers-2005, ge-credit-v-drill-ship-mission-exploration-1982

Sources

▸ For Buyers / Operators — Priority table and channel table above.

▸ For Owners / Debtors — Deficiency, declaratory and lien-notice expiry rules above.

This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. Maritime lien priority is technical and in part judge-made; its application is fact-specific and varies by circuit. Verify every statute and holding against the current primary source and consult a licensed maritime attorney before acting. Last verified: 2026-10-16.

Graph View

Backlinks