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IN exercise of the powers
conferred upon the Commissioner by
sections 173 (d) and 181 of the
Merchant Shipping Act, 1963 (Act
183), these Rules are hereby made
this 9th day of August, 1972.
Rule 1—Communications Regarding
Danger to Navigation.
(1) The master of every Ghanaian
ship shall—
(a) on meeting with dangerous ice,
a dangerous derelict, a tropical
storm or any other direct danger
to navigation;
(b) on encountering sub-freezing
air temperatures associated with
gale force winds causing severe
ice accretion on superstructures;
or
(c) on experiencing winds of force
10 or above on the Beaufort Scale
for which no storm warning has
been received, send by all means
of communication at his disposal
information relating to the
matters set forth in the First
Schedule to these Rules.
(2) The information shall be sent
to ships in the vicinity and to
the person in charge for the time
being of the nearest coast station
with which it is possible for the
ship to communicate; and if that
station is not a coast radio
station, the information shall be
accompanied by a request that it
be sent forthwith to the nearest
coast radio station.
(3) The information shall be sent
by the master of the ship in
English or by means of the
International Code of Signals.
(4) The 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—
(a) if 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
being clearly separated from each
other, or
(b) if the information is sent by
radio telephony, of the spoken
word “SECURITE” (pronounced “SAYCURITAY”)
repeated three times.
Rule 2—Distress Signals.
(1) No distress signal shall be
used by any ship unless so ordered
by the master of the ship.
(2) The master of the ship shall
not order any distress signal to
be used by his ship unless he is
satisfied—
(a) that his ship is in serious
and imminent danger, or that
another ship or an aircraft is in
serious and imminent danger and
cannot of itself send that signal;
and
(b) that the ship in danger
(whether his own ship or another
ship) or the aircraft in danger,
as the case may be, required
immediate assistance in addition
to any assistance then available
to her.
(3) The master of a ship which
has sent any distress signal by
means of radio shall cause that
signal to be revoked as soon as he
is satisfied that the ship or
aircraft to which the signal
relates is no longer in need of
assistance as aforesaid.
Rule 3—Interpretation.
In these Rules, unless the context
otherwise requires, the following
expressions shall have the
meanings hereby assigned to them,
that is to say—
“Coast radio station” means a
station situated on land intended
to provide communication with
ships by means of radio;
“Coast station” means a station
situated on land intended to
provide communication with ships
by means other than radio;
“Commissioner means the
Commissioner responsible for
Transport;
“Distress signals” means any of
the signals prescribed in the
Second Schedule to these Rules;
“Tropical storm” means a
hurricane, typhoon, cyclone or a
storm of 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
such storm is developing or exists
in his vicinity.
Rule 4—Revocation.
The Merchant Shipping
(Navigational Warnings) Rules,
1963 (L.I. 303) are hereby
revoked.
SCHEDULES
FIRST SCHEDULE
The following information is
required in danger messages:—
A. ICE, DERELICTS AND OTHER
DIRECT DANGERS TO NAVIGATION
(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 Greenwich Mean Time and
date when the observation was
made.
B. TROPICAL STORMS
(1) The position of the storm so
far as it can be ascertained.
(2) The Greenwich Mean Time, date
and position of ship when the
observation was taken.
(3) The true course and speed of
the ship.
(4) As much of the following
information as is practicable
should be included in the
message:—
(a) the barometric pressure,
preferably corrected (stating
millibars, inches, or millimeters,
and whether corrected or
uncorrected);
(b) the change in barometric
pressure during the previous three
hours;
(c) the true wind direction;
(d) the wind force according to
the Beaufort Scale;
(e) the state of the sea (smooth,
moderate, rough or high);
(f) the swell (slight, moderate
or heavy) and the true direction
from which it comes;
(g) the period or length of swell
(short, average, long).
(5) So long as a ship remains
under the influence of a tropical
or other dangerous storm further
observations shall be made and
transmitted at intervals of not
more than three hours.
C. WINDS OF FORCE 10 OR ABOVE ON
THE BEAUFORT SCALE FOR WHICH NO
STORM WARNING HAS BEEN RECEIVED.
When such a storm is encountered
the message should contain similar
information to that listed under
Part B of this Schedule but
excluding the details concerning
sea and swell.
D. SUB-FREEZING AIR TEMPERATURES
ASSOCIATED WITH GALE FORCE WINDS
CAUSING SEVERE ICE ACCRETION ON
SUPERSTRUCTURES.
(a) Time and date (Greenwich Mean
Time).
(b) Air temperature.
(c) Sea temperature (if
practicable).
(d) Wind force and direction.
EXAMPLES OF THE ABOVE
Ice
TTT Ice.—Large berg sighted in
4605 N., 4410 W., at 0800 GMT.,
May 15.
Derelicts
TTT Derelict.—Observed derelict
almost submerged in 4006 N., 1243
W., at 1630 GMT., April 21.
Danger to Navigation
T'TT Navigation.—Alpha lightship
not on station. 1800 GMT., January
3.
Tropical Storm
(a) TTT Storm 0300 GMT., August 18
2204 N., 11354 E. Barometer
corrected 994 millibars, tendency
down 6 millibars. Wind NW., force
9 heavy squalls. Heavy easterly
swell. Course 067, 5 Knots.
(b) TTT Storm. Appearances
indicate approach of hurricane.
1300 GMT., September 14, 2200
N.7236 W. Barometer corrected
29.64 inches, tendency down .015
inches, Wind NE. force 8, frequent
rain squalls. Course 035, 9
Knots.
(c) TTT Storm. Conditions
indicate intense cyclone has
formed. 0200 GMT., May 4., 1620
N., 9203 E. Barometer uncorrected
753 millimetres, tendency down 5
millimetres, Wind S. by W. force 5
Course 300, 8 Knots.
(d) TTT Storm. Typhoon to
southeast. 0300 GMT., June 12,
1812 N., 12605 E. Barometer
falling rapidly. Wind increasing
from N.
(e) TTT Storm. Wind force 11, no
storm warning received. 0300 GMT.,
May 4., 4830 N., 30 W. Barometer
corrected 983 millibars, tendency
down 4 millibars. Wind SW.,
force 11 veering. Course 260, 6
Knots.
Icing
TTT experiencing severe icing.
1400 GMT., March 2, 69 N., 10 W.
Air temperature 18. Sea
temperature 29. Wind NE., force
8.
SECOND SCHEDULE
DISTRESS SIGNALS
Where a vessel or seaplane on the
water 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, namely:—
(i)
A gun or other explosive signal
fired at intervals of about a
minute.
(ii) A continuous sounding with
any fog-signalling apparatus.
(iii) Rockets or shells,
throwing red stars fired one at a
time at short intervals.
(iv) A signal made by radio
telegraphy or by any other
signalling method consisting of
the group . . . . . . in the Morse
Code.
(v) A signal sent by radio
telephony consisting of the spoken
word “MAYDAY”.
(vi) The International Code of
Signal of distress indicated by NC.
(vii) A signal consisting of a
square flag having above it a ball
or anything resembling a ball.
(viii) Flames on the vessel (as
from a burning tar barrel, oil
barrel, etc.).
(ix) A rocket parachute flare
or a hand flare showing a red
light.
(x) A smoke signal giving off
a volume of orange coloured smoke.
(xi) Slowly and repeatedly
raising and lowering arms
outstretched to each side.
Note.—Vessels in distress may use
the radio-telegraph alarm signal
or the radio-telephone alarm
signal to secure attention to
distress calls and messages. The
radio-telegraph alarm signal,
which is designed to actuate the
radio-telegraph auto alarm of
vessels so fitted, consists of a
series of twelve dashes, sent in
one minute, the duration of each
dash being four seconds and the
duration of the interval between
two consecutive dashes being one
second. The radio-telephone alarm
signal consists of two tones
transmitted alternately over
periods of from 30 seconds to one
minute.
MAJOR A. H. SELORMEY
Commissioner Responsible for
Transport and Communications.
Date of Gazette Notification: 25th
August, 1972.
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