MERCHANT SHIPPING (NAVIGATIONAL WARNINGS AND DISTRESS SIGNALS) RULES, 1972 (L.I 769).

(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.

(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.