Merchant Shipping (Safety and Load Line Conventions) Act, 1933

Report of dangers to navigation.

24.—(1) The master of any Saorstát Eireann ship on meeting with dangerous ice, a dangerous derelict, a tropical storm or any other direct danger to navigation, shall send information accordingly, by all means of communication at his disposal and in accordance with rules to be made for the purposes of this section, to ships in the vicinity and to such authorities on shore as may be prescribed by those rules.

(2) Rules for the purposes of this section shall be made by the Minister and shall make such provision as appears to him to be necessary for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article forty-four (so far as it relates to safety signals) and of Regulation XLVI of the Safety Convention.

(3) If the master of a ship fails to comply with the provisions of this section, 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.

(4) Every person in charge of a wireless telegraph station which is under the control of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs or which is established or installed under licence of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, shall, on receiving the signal prescribed by the said rules for indicating that a message is about to be sent under this section, refrain from sending messages for a time sufficient to allow other stations to receive the message, and, if so required by the Minister shall transmit the message in such manner as may be required by the Minister, and compliance with this sub-section shall be deemed to be a condition of every licence granted by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926:

Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall interfere with the transmission by wireless telegraphy of any signal of distress or urgency prescribed under the next following section of this Act.

(5) For the purposes of this section, the expression “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.

(6) The Derelict Vessels (Report) Act, 1896, shall cease to have effect.