Navigation (Distress Messages and Navigational Warnings) Regulations (Cth)

STATUTORY RULES.

1933. No. 47.

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REGULATIONS UNDER THE NAVIGATION ACT 1912-1926.

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Navigation Act 1912-1926, to come into operation forthwith.

Dated this Fifth

 day of April 1933.

(Sgd.) ISAAC A. ISAACS

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

(Sgd) Fred. H. Stewart.

Minister of State for Commerce.

 

Navigation (Distress Messages and Navigational Warnings) Regulations.

Short title.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Navigation (Distress Messages and Navigational Warnings) Regulations.

Signals of distress to be used by ships.

2. When a vessel is in distress and requires assistance from other vessels or from the shore, the following shall be the signals to be used or displayed by her, either together or separately, viz.:—

(a) if the vessel is provided with a wireless telegraph installation,

Firstly, the Alarm Signal, that is to say, a signal sent by radio telegraphy in the Morse Code consisting of a series of twelve dashes, each of four seconds duration, transmitted in one minute with an interval of one second between each dash;

Secondly, the Distress Call, consisting of—

• (i) The Distress Signal, namely the letters SOS (- - -

   — — — - - -) made as one sign and repeated three times;

(ii) The word DE and the call signal of the ship in distress, sent three times; and

Thirdly, the Distress Message, consisting of—

• (i) The Distress Signal, namely the letters SOS (- - -

   — — — - - -) made as one sign, sent three times;

(ii) The word DE;

(iii) The call signal of the ship in distress, sent three times;

(iv) The name of the ship, its position, the nature of its distress, and the kind of assistance required;

827.—Price 5d.

(b) if the vessel is provided with a wireless telephone installation the Distress Signal and Distress Message, as follows:—

Firstly, the Distress Signal, consisting of the spoken word “Mayday”.

Secondly, the Distress Message, consisting of the name of the ship, its position, the nature of its distress, and the kind of assistance required;

(c) in the case of any vessel, whether provided with a wireless telegraph installation or not—

(i) In the daytime:—

A gun or other explosive signal fired at intervals of about a minute;

The International Code signal of distress indicated by N.C.;

The distant signal, consisting of a square flag, having either above or below it a ball or anything resembling a ball;

A continuous sounding with any fog-signal apparatus;

(ii) At night:—

A gun or other explosive signal fired at intervals of about a minute;

Flames on the vessel (as from a burning tar barrel, oil barrel, &c.);

Rockets or shells, throwing stars of any colour or description, fired one at a time, at short intervals;

A continuous sounding with any fog-signal apparatus.

Use of Distress Signals by ships.

3. The Distress Signal shall only be sent out on the authority of the Master, and shall not be addressed to a specific station. It shall only be used:—

(a) by ships in serious and imminent danger requiring immediate assistance; or

(b) by a ship which observes that another ship is in serious and imminent danger, if the ship in distress is not itself able to transmit the distress signal and the Master of the ship so acting on behalf of another ship has reason to believe that further assistance is necessary.

Revocation of Distress Signal.

4. If, after having sent out by wireless the Distress Signal, the Master of any ship subsequently finds that assistance is no longer required, he shall immediately send out a message notifying that assistance is no longer required.

Urgency Signal.

5. The following shall be the wireless telegraph Urgency Signal to be used when there is an urgent message to be transmitted, concerning the safety of the ship, or another ship in sight, or a person on board or in sight, viz.:—

Several repetitions of the group X X X in the Morse Code, with the letters of each group and the successive groups clearly separated from each other.

Use of Urgency Signal by ships.

6. The Urgency Signal shall be used to precede a message from a ship which, though not in serious and imminent danger, requires assistance. The Urgency Signal and message shall, where practicable, be addressed to a specific station, i.e., to the nearest coast wireless station or to another ship known to be in the vicinity. The Urgency Signal shall also be used when the Master of a ship desires to issue a warning that circumstances are such that it may become necessary for him to send out the Distress Signal at a later stage, but in any such case the Urgency Signal need not be addressed to a specific station.

Reports of dangers to navigation.

7. The Master of a ship registered in Australia or of a ship (whether British or foreign) engaged in the coasting trade who meets with any dangerous ice, a dangerous derelict, a tropical storm* or any other direct danger to navigation shall—

(a) if the ship is fitted with wireless, immediately send out the Safety Signal consisting of—

(i) the group T T T (— — — ) in the Morse Code with the letters well separated;

(ii) the word DE; and

(iii) the call signal of the ship sending it;

followed by the Safety Message conveying the information required to be communicated under these Regulations; or

(b)if the ship is not fitted with wireless, at the earliest opportunity communicate, by International Code Signals, if during daylight, or by Morse Code, if at night, the information to other ships in the vicinity or which he meets, and to the first signal station on shore to which he approaches within signalling distance, and through that signal station make a report to the Deputy Director of Navigation for the State, communicating the information;

(c) in either case, immediately on arrival at the next port of call in Australia, lodge with the Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office at the port, or, if there is no Superintendent, with the Sub-Collector of Customs, a report to the Deputy-Director of Navigation for the State in Form D.C.—A, copies of which are obtainable, free of charge, from any Superintendent or Sub-Collector.

Particulars to be communicated.

8.— (1.) The information required to be communicated under these Regulations shall include—

(a) in the case of ice, derelicts and other direct dangers to navigation—

(i) the kind of ice, derelict or danger observed;

(ii) the position of the ice, derelict or danger when last observed; and

(iii) the Greenwich Mean Time and date when the observation was made;

 

* Tropical storm, for the purpose of these Regulations, means a hurricane, typhoon, cyclone, or other storm of a similar nature, and the master of a ship shall be deemed to have met with a tropical storm if he has reason to believe that there is such a storm in his vicinity.

(b) in the case of tropical storms*—

(i) the position of the storm as far as it can be ascertained, together with the Greenwich Mean Time and date when the observation was made;

(ii) the position, course and speed of the reporting ship, when the observation was made;

and so far as is practicable—

(iii) the barometric pressure with an indication as to whether such pressure is given in millibars, inches or millimetres and as to whether the reading is corrected or uncorrected;

(iv) the change in barometric pressure during the previous two to four hours;

(v) the wind direction;

(vi) the wind force according to the Beaufort Scale;

(vii) the state of the sea (smooth, moderate, rough, high);

(viii) the swell (slight, medium, heavy) and the direction from which it comes.

(2.) All bearings and directions of wind or current shall be given as true (not magnetic). Uncorrected compass bearings or directions must not be used.

(3.) In all cases the message shall conclude with the name of the Master and the call signal of the ship.

Transmission of reports by shore stations.

9. The officer in charge of a Commonwealth wireless station, or of a signal station, shall, on receiving any report sent in accordance with these Regulations, immediately transmit the information, by telephone if practicable, or, if not, by urgent telegram, to the Deputy Director of Navigation for the State or other official designated by the Director of Navigation as the person to whom the message should be transmitted.

Entry in log book.

10. The Master shall enter in the official log book a record of—

(a) all new dangers to navigation observed;

(b) all messages or information received in regard to the new dangers;

(c) all messages and reports sent in regard to such dangers, with, in each case, the hour and minute and the position of the ship at the time.

Rate of transmission of wireless signals.

11. When transmitted by radio telegraphy in the Morse Code, the rate of transmission of any message preceded by the Distress, Urgency, or Safety Signal shall not exceed sixteen words per minute.

Improper use of rocket signals.

12.—(1.) No person shall, at any place on or near the coast, and whether on shore or afloat, use or display any rockets or shells, throwing stars of any colour or description, which might possibly be mistaken for signals of distress, unless—

(a) application for permission to do so is made to, and such permission, in writing, is obtained from, the Deputy Director of Navigation for the State, at least three days before such use or display; and

 

* Note.—In cases where information has been furnished by the Master of a ship regarding a tropical storm, it is desirable that, so long as the ship remains subject to the influence of the storm, further observations should be taken at intervals of three hours and information furnished at similar intervals as to the relevant matters set out above.

(b) the fact that rockets or shells throwing stars are to be used or displayed at a certain time is publicly notified by advertisement in the press at least two days before such use or display.

Penalty: *Fifty pounds.

(2.) This regulation shall not apply to the use, on shore, of small rockets, weighing not more than two ounces, unless used under circumstances indicating an intention to mislead into the belief that they are signals of distress.

(3.) In any legal proceedings for an offence against this regulation it shall be on the person charged with the offence to prove that the requirements of the regulation had been complied with, or that the rockets used did not come within the scope of the regulation.

Repeal.

13. The Navigation (Distress Signal and Danger Calls) Regulations, being Statutory Rules 1924, No. 148, as amended by Statutory Rules 1928, No. 53, are hereby repealed.

 

* Note.—Persons who, without reasonable excuse, use or exhibit any signal of distress, render themselves liable to a penalty of £50 and, in addition, and without prejudice to any other liability, to pay compensation for any labour undertaken or risk or expense incurred in consequence of the signal having been improperly exhibited (Navigation Act 1912-1926, ss. 229, 230).

 

By Authority: L. F. Johnston, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra.