28 NOVEMBER NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE 5947

should immediately cease any transmissions capable of interfering with distress traffic.

(2) In cases of distress affecting own ship, the radiotelephone operator should—

(a) Obtain from the bridge the ship’s actual or estimated position or, if not available, the last known position or the true bearing and distance from a fixed geographical position; when using the last known position, time of such position should be stated in UTC.

(b) Normally transmit on 2182 kHz, and, when appropriate, on 156.8 MHz using the radiotelephone distress procedure; the distress call and message should be sent only on the authority of the master or person responsible for the ship; other suitable international distress frequencies (or other frequencies), if necessary, may be used:

(c) Transmit, whenever possible, the alarm signal as any ship in the vicinity keeping watch by means of a filtered loudspeaker or alarm receiver will not hear a spoken message unless first alerted by reception of the alarm signal; send the radiotelephone alarm signal, when generated by automatic means, continuously for a period of at least 30 seconds, but not exceeding one minute, when generated by other means, send the signal as continuously as practicable over a period of approximately one minute:

(d) Repeat at intervals, especially during silence periods, the distress message, preceded by the alarm signal whenever possible, and the distress call, until an answer is received:

(e) If no answer is received to a distress message sent on a distress frequency, repeat the message on any other available frequency on which attention might be attracted.

(f) Use any means in order to attract attention:

(g) On the order of the master, transmit as soon as possible own ship’s name, position, speed, and estimated time of arrival at the distress position and, if the position of the ship in distress appears doubtful, the direction finder bearing:

(h) Record and pass to the master other acknowledgements, positions and times of arrival, and other relevant distress traffic.

(i) If control of distress traffic is taken over by a coast station or a ship more favourably placed to assist the one in distress, normally work with that control station.

5. Urgency—(1) In cases of urgency affecting own ship, the radiotelephone operator should:

(a) Using the radiotelephone urgency procedure, send, only on the authority of the master, the urgency signal and message on 2182 kHz and, when appropriate, on 156.8 MHz or on any other frequency which may be used in case of distress, or in the case of a long message, or a medical call, or when repeating the message in areas of heavy traffic, transmit the message on a working frequency; in such cases, include in the call details of the frequency on which the urgency message will be transmitted:

(b) If the urgency message concerns the loss of a person or persons overboard, be permitted to precede the call by the alarm signal, only when the assistance of other ships is required and cannot be satisfactorily obtained by the use of the urgency signal:

(c) If the message is addressed to a particular station, establish contact with that station before transferring to a working frequency:

(d) If the message is addressed to all stations, allow a reasonable period before repeating the call and transmitting the message.

(e) When an urgency addressed to all stations is ended and action is no longer necessary, send a message of cancellation on the relevant frequency, addressed to all stations.

(2) In cases of urgency affecting other ships, the radiotelephone operator should—

(a) As the urgency signal has priority over all other communications, except distress, take care not to interfere with it or the transmission of the message that follows the urgency signal:

(b) Copy the message and pass it to the master:

(c) Continue to listen for at least 3 minutes; at the end of that period, if no urgency message has been heard, notify a coast station, if possible, of the receipt of the urgency signal; thereafter resume normal working:

(d) If the urgency signal is addressed to a particular station, be permitted to continue working on frequencies other than that in use for the transmission of the urgency signal or urgency message; all assistance should be given, if required, in the clearance of the urgency message to the addressee, for example, by retransmission.

6. Safety—(1) When a safety message is to be transmitted, the radiotelephone operator should—

(a) Send the safety signal towards the end of the first available silence period and call on 2182 kHz and, when appropriate, 156.8 MHz or on any other frequency which may be used in case of distress:

(b) Immediately after the end of the silence period, send the safety message which follows the call on a working frequency, making a suitable announcement to this effect at the end of the call.

(c) Transmit safety calls and messages which contain