Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act 1952
Report of dangers to navigation.
35. — (1) The master of F42[an Irish 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 Regulations 2, 3 and 4 of Chapter V 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 F43[€2,000].
(4) Every person in charge of a wireless telegraph station which is under the control of the F44[Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources] 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 subsection shall be deemed to be a condition of every licence granted by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926 (No. 45 of 1926).
(5) Nothing in subsection (4) of this section shall interfere with the transmission of signals of distress prescribed under section 36 of this Act.
(6) 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.
Annotations
Amendments:
F42
Substituted (3.07.2010) by Merchant Shipping Act 2010 (14/2010), s. 11(f)(i), commenced on enactment.
F43
Substituted (3.07.2010) by Merchant Shipping Act 2010 (14/2010), s. 11(f)(ii), commenced on enactment. A fine of €2,000 translates into a class C fine, not greater than €2,500, as provided (4.01.2011) by Fines Act 2010 (8/2010), ss. 3, 6(3) and table ref. no. 1, S.I. No. 662 of 2010.
F44
Substituted (3.07.2010) by Merchant Shipping Act 2010 (14/2010), s. 11(f)(iii), commenced on enactment.
Modifications (not altering text)
C29
Application of section extended (14.05.1967) by Merchant Shipping Act 1966 (20/1966), s. 17, S.I. No. 54 of 1967.
Extension of duty to report dangers to navigation.
17.—The matters of which information is to be sent by the master of a ship in accordance with the Merchant Shipping (Distress and Urgency Signals and Danger Warning) Rules, 1936, and section 35 of the Act of 1952 shall include—
(a) air temperatures below freezing point associated with gale force winds causing severe ice accretion on the superstructure of ships; and
(b) winds of force 10 or above on the Beaufort Scale for which no storm warning has been received.
Editorial Notes
E103
Power pursuant to section exercised (1.02.1993) by Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings) (Amendment) Rules 1992 (S.I. No. 444 of 1992), in effect as per rule 1.
E104
Power pursuant to section exercised (1.12.1983) by Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings) Rules 1983 (S.I. No. 310 of 1983), in effect as per rule 1(1).
E105
Previous affecting provision: power pursuant to section exercised (16.05.1967) by Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings) Rules 1967 (S.I. No. 108 of 1967), in effect as per rule 1(2); revoked (1.12.1983) by Merchant Shipping (Navigational Warnings) Rules 1983 (S.I. No. 310 of 1983), rule 1(3), in effect as per rule 1(1).