Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act, 1952

Signals of distress.

36.—(1) The Minister may make rules prescribing what signals shall be used by ships as signals of distress and the circumstances in which, and the purposes for which, any such signal is to be used and the circumstances in which it is to be revoked.

(2) If the master of a ship uses or displays or causes or permits any person under his authority to use or display—

(a) any signal prescribed under this section except in the circumstances and for the purposes so prescribed, or

(b) any private signal, whether registered or not, that is liable to be mistaken for any signal so prescribed,

he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds and shall further be liable to pay compensation for any labour undertaken, risk incurred or loss sustained in consequence of the signal having been supposed to be a signal of distress; and that compensation may, without prejudice to any other remedy, be recovered in the same manner as salvage.