A lien is hereby declared on any ship, steamboat, or other watercraft, whether registered, enrolled, or licensed or not, that may be built, repaired, fitted, furnished, supplied, or victualed within this state, for work done, or material supplied by any person within this state, in or about the building, repairing, fitting, furnishing, supplying, or victualing such ship, steamboat, or other watercraft, and for the wages of the masters, laborers, stevedores, and shipkeepers of such ship, steamboat, or other watercraft, in preference to other liens thereon for debts contracted by, or owing from, the owners thereof; and for wharfage and dockage; and such lien may be asserted in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Ala. Code § 35-11-60 (1975)