Section 103: Duty to assist ships or persons in distress
consolidated text (as at 2011, amended since). juris shows the text as it was consolidated; it does not confirm that this is the law in force today.
103. Duty to assist ships or persons in distress
(1) The master of a ship shall, so far as he can do so without serious
danger to his own ship and the persons on board, render assistance to any
person in danger of being lost at sea.
(2) The master of a ship shall, on receiving at sea a signal from any
source that a ship or aircraft or a survival craft is in distress, proceed with all
speed to the assistance of the persons in distress, informing them, if possible, that he is doing so, and where—
(a) he is unable to do so; or
(b) in the special circumstances of the case, he considers it unreasonable or unnecessary to proceed to their assistance,
he shall enter in the official log book of the ship the reason for failing to proceed to their assistance.
(3) The master of a ship shall be released from the duty imposed by subsection (2) as soon as he is informed of the requisition of one or more ships,
other than his own, under section 104 and that the requisition is being complied with by the ship or ships requisitioned.