S.I. No. 310/1983:

MERCHANT SHIPPING (NAVIGATIONAL WARNINGS) RULES, 1983.

MERCHANT SHIPPING (NAVIGATIONAL WARNINGS) RULES, 1983.

I, JAMES MITCHELL, Minister for Transport, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 35 of the Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act, 1952 (No. 29 of 1952), section 17 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1966 (No. 20 of 1966), the Transport, Fuel and Power (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order, 1959 ( S.I. No. 125 of 1959 ), and the Tourism and Transport (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1980 ( S.I. No. 11 of 1980 ), hereby make the following rules:

1. (1) These Rules may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings) Rules, 1983, and shall come into operation on the 1st day of December 1983.

(2) In these Rules--

"coast station" means a station on land intended to provide communication with ships by means of radio;

"signal station" means a station on land for the purpose of providing communication with ships by means other than radio;

"tropical storm" 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;

(3) The Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings) Rules, 1967 ( S.I. No. 108 of 1967 ) are hereby revoked.

2. (1) The master of every ship registered in the State, on meeting with dangerous ice, a dangerous derelict or any other direct danger to navigation, or a tropical storm, or on encountering subfreezing air temperatures associated with gale force winds causing severe ice accretion on the superstructure of ships or winds of force 10 or above on the Beaufort Scale for which no storm warning has been received, shall send, by all means of communication at his disposal, information relating to the matters set forth in the Schedule to these Rules.

(2) Such information shall be sent to ships in the vicinity and to the person in charge for the time being of the nearest coast station or signal station with which it is possible for the ship to communicate. If that station is a signal station, the information shall be accompanied by a request that it be sent forthwith to the nearest coast station.

(3) Such information shall be sent by the master of the ship in plain language or by means of the International Code of Signals.

(4) Such information, when sent by the master of the ship by means of radio, shall commence with an indication of the nature of the danger to which it relates and shall be preceded by the safety signal consisting, in the information is sent by radio telegraphy, of the group TTT in the Morse Code, repeated three times with the letters of each group and the successive groups clearly separated from each other, or if the information is sent by radiotelephony, of the spoken work "SÉCURITÉ" (pronounced "SAY-CURE-E-TAY") repeated three times.

SCHEDULE.

A. On meeting with dangerous ice, a dangerous derelict or any other direct danger to navigation (except the dangers mentioned in paragraphs B, C and D of this Schedule) the master of the ship shall send information relating to the following matters:

(1) The kind of ice, derelict or other danger observed.

(2) The position of the ice, derelict or other danger when last observed.

(3) The time and date (Greenwich Mean Time) when the danger was last observed.

B. On meeting with a tropical storm the master of the ship shall send information relating to the following matters:

(1) The position of the storm so far as it can be ascertained, together with the time and date (Greenwich Mean Time) when the storm was encountered.

(2) The position, true course and speed of the ship when the observation was made.

In addition the master of the ship shall send as much of the following information as is practicable:

(3) The barometric pressure, corrected if possible, indicating whether such pressure is given in millibars, inches or millimetres and whether the reading is corrected or uncorrected.

(4) The change in barometric pressure during the previous three hours.

(5) The true direction of the wind.

(6) The wind force according to the Beaufort Scale.

(7) The state of the sea (smooth, moderate, rough or high).

(8) The swell (slight, moderate or heavy) and the true direction from which it comes.

(9) The period or length of the swell (short, average or long).

(10) True course and speed of ship.

C. On encountering winds of force 10 or above on the Beaufort Scale (not being a tropical storm) for which no storm warning has been received the master of the ship shall send the same information as that listed under paragraph B of this Schedule but excluding the details concerning sea and swell.

D. On encountering subfreezing air temperatures associated with gale force winds causing severe ice accretion on the superstructure of ships the master of the ship shall send information relating to the following matters:

(1) The time and date (Greenwich Mean Time) when the encounter was made.

(2) The air temperature and (if practicable) the sea temperature at such time.

(3) The force of the wind encountered (Beaufort Scale) and the true direction thereof.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 18th day of October, 1983.

JAMES MITCHELL,

Minister for Transport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Rules implement the provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, relating to the dissemination of warnings of navigational hazards by and to ships.