Maritime UK MASS CoP v2
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17 Rendering of Assistance<br />
to Persons in Distress at Sea<br />
17.1 Objective<br />
The objective of this Chapter is to identify applicable obligations on <strong>MASS</strong> and/or their operating<br />
personnel under international law to render assistance to persons in distress at sea and to prescribe<br />
the means by which any such duty might be effectively discharged. It should be stressed that this an<br />
area of <strong>MASS</strong> operation which will be the subject of considerable debate in the future. Feedback from<br />
operators will be an essential element of this debate.<br />
17.2 Requirements of international law<br />
17.2.1 Article 98 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS) requires flag States to enact<br />
laws to require the Master of one of its flagged ships to render assistance to any person(s) found at sea in danger,<br />
insofar as it can be done without serious danger to the ship.<br />
17.2.2 In particular, the Master, if informed of persons in distress, must proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of<br />
such persons insofar as such action may reasonably be expected of him.<br />
17.2.3 The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 as amended (SOLAS) prescribes the same<br />
obligation to contracting States in Regulation 33 of Chapter V (Navigation), adding that masters who have embarked<br />
persons in distress at sea should treat them with humanity, within the capabilities and limitations of the ship.<br />
17.3 Applicability to <strong>MASS</strong> operations<br />
17.3.1 The international State obligation of rendering assistance is to be practically discharged by the Master of a ship,<br />
rather than the ship itself. Therefore, the duty cannot lie with the <strong>MASS</strong>, but only potentially to persons operating it.<br />
17.3.2 The State obligations will only find application to <strong>MASS</strong> operators to the extent that both:<br />
n The <strong>MASS</strong> is itself a “ship”; and<br />
n An individual operator can be regarded as its “master” at the time of becoming aware of an incident.<br />
17.3.3 A “master” under s.313 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 is the individual with “command or charge of a ship”.<br />
The Master for a <strong>MASS</strong> is as defined at Chapter 2 of this code.<br />
17.4 <strong>MASS</strong> Remote controller task requirements<br />
17.4.1 The duty to render assistance will fall to be discharged, if at all, by the <strong>MASS</strong> Master, potentially delegated to the<br />
controller, both as defined at Chapter 2 of this code.<br />
88<br />
<strong>MASS</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Code of Practice Version 2
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