Ships In general; ships or vessels of any kind intended for navigation. Relating to ships; as, shipping interest, shipping affairs, shipping business, shipping concerns. Putting on board a ship or vessel, or receiving on board a ship or vessel. Webster; Worcester. The “law of shipping” is a comprehensive term for all that part of the maritime law which relates to ships and the persons employed in or about them. It embraces such subjects as the building and equipment of vessels, their registration and nationality, their ownership and Inspection, their employment, (including charter parties, freight, demurrage, towage, and salvage,) and their sale, transfer, and mortgage; also, the employment, rights, powers, and duties of masters and mariners; and the law relating to ship brokers, ship agents, pilots, etc. Shipping articles. A written agreement between the master of a vessel and the mariners, specifying the voyage or term for which the latter are shipped, and the rate of wages. Shipping commissioner. An officer of the United States, appointed by the several circuit courts, within their respective jurisdictions, for each port of entry (the same being also a port of ocean navigation) which, in the judgment of such court, may require the same; his duties being to supervise the engagement and discharge of seamen; to see that men engaged as seamen report on board at the proper time; to facilitate the apprenticing of persons to the marine service; and other similar duties, such as may be required by law. Rev. St. U. S.