What’s the Deal With the Preferred Ship Mortgage?

Vessel documentation has its own jargon, essentially its own language. These terms can be confusing to people who have spent much of their lives on the water, much less someone who’s just starting out. No matter what form of vessel documentation that you’re looking for, we have it here at our site. We know that some of these forms may be a bit harder to understand than others. The “First Preferred Ship Mortgageis consistently one of the most asked about forms that we offer.

Preferred Ship Mortgage Explained

The simple, “pat” definition of this mortgage is that it’s a mortgage that has been recorded against a vessel. Specifically, this particular vessel has been documented with the USCG. Now, you might ask, “why isn’t it just called a ‘ship mortgage?” Well, the “preferred” comes from the idea that the mortgagee of this particular mortgage will take precedence (or, be preferred) over any and all other maritime liens that the vessel may accrue. They have to be paid first before anyone else, excluding salvage, pre-existing mechanics o crew wages.

Origins of this Mortgage

This actually dates back to the Ship’s Mortgage Act of 1920. Incidentally, this act was instrumental in the development of the American Merchant Marine. At the time, the act was largely about investing in vessels more attractive at a time when many were tight with their money (as was a problem in the 1920’s). Today, these mortgages can be quite helpful in getting boat loans.

Preferred Ship Mortgage

Our Forms

If you go to our site and look up this form, you’ll see that we explicitly say “there is no government form for a preferred mortgage.” However, it’s still necessary to have a form that has all of the appropriate information on it. That’s what you’ll find at our site. In addition to having areas for you to fill in all of the relevant information, you’ll notice that there is quite a lot of information available on the page itself. That can help you to know everything that you have to put down about this vessel. This includes information that many people often overlook, such as the mortgage has to be acknowledged by a notary public.

Everything you need in One Place

We know how important it is to have your vessel documentation up to date. For example, you can’t get one of these mortgages if your vessel isn’t documented. That’s why we have all of the forms you need for that at our site. Additionally, you’ll find, at the bottom of this form (and many others) we have a place for you to get your vessel documentation renewed for multiple years into the future.

If you go through other channels, you’ll have to go year by year, thus increasing the possibility that you’ll forget/something will go wrong, and you’ll lose your documentation. That doesn’t happen with us. Whether you need to document your vessel, get a mortgage or anything else that involves documentation, call us at (866) 981-8783.