343. Exemption of ships from certain provisions of this Part.- (1) Nothing in this Part- (a) prohibiting a ship from proceeding to sea unless there are in force in relation to the ship, or are produced the appropriate certificates issued under this Part or the appropriate safety convention certificates; (b) requiring information about a ship's stability to be carried on board; shall, unless in the case of information about a ship's stability the Central Government otherwise orders, apply to any troopship, pleasure yacht or fishing vessel or to any ship of less than five hundred tons gross other than an passenger ship or to any ship not fitted with mechanical means of propulsion. (2) Nothing in the preceding sub-section shall affect the exemption conferred by any other provision of this Act. (3) Nothing in this Part shall apply to any ship other than an Indian ship while it is within any port in Indian if it would not have been within such port but for stress of weather or any other circumstance that neither the master nor the owner nor the chartered, if any, of the ship could have prevented or forestalled. | 
