§ 39. “First Port of Clearance.”
If a British vessel began a voyage from any port outside the Commonwealth, then the port whence she started on her voyage would be the “First Port of Clearance,” and consequently she would be exempt from the operation of the clause. If, upon the completion of that voyage by disembarking her passengers and discharging her cargo, she were chartered to carry cargo or passengers from one port of the Commonwealth to another, her first port of clearance on the new voyage, as well as her “port of destination,” would be within the Commonwealth, and she would carry Commonwealth law with her from the beginning to the end of the local voyage.