ORDER :- The 2nd defendants are the owners of the 1st defendant vessel. The 1st defendant vessel is mortgaged to the plaintiffs. It is presently anchored in the port of Bombay. The suit is filed in the Admiralty and Vice-Admiralty Jurisdiction of this Court for realisation of the mortgage security. In the written statement the 1st and 2nd defendants contend that this Court in its Admiralty and Vice-Admiralty Jurisdiction does not have jurisdiction to entertain and try the suit. It is this preliminary issue that now comes up before me.

2. The history of this Court's power to entertain suits for realisation of the security in ship mortgage suits in its Admiralty and Vice-Admiralty Jurisdiction may briefly be traced. In the (English) Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, Sections 66 onwards dealt with ship mortgages, Section 71 conferred upon the mortgagee the power to sell the mortgage security without the intervention of the Court. Under the provisions of Section 11 of the (English) Admiralty Courts Act, 1861, the High Court of Admiralty was given jurisdiction over any claim in respect of any mortgage registered according to the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854. Under the provisi

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