first convenient port of call. The answer to that
question must be based first of all on humanitarian
grounds, ie the condition and well-being of the survivors
bearing in mind that some may be in considerable medical
distress and unable to survive any other than a short
sea voyage.
A further consideration must be that of
ships' safety and whether the presence of even a limited
number of refugees is likely to place in danger a ship
carrying hazardous cargoes.
4
Given that the condition of the survivors, and the
ability of the ships' master to look after them, is such
that the ship can proceed to the first scheduled port of
call, our advice would be to so proceed so that the
principle that it is accepted intemational practice
for masters to land such people at the ships' next port
more easily
of call can be maintained.
5
The question now arises as to what action should
be taken by ships' masters in the interim period between
rescue and reaching the next port of call. Clearly
shipowners will wish for decisions on a case-by-case
basis to be taken as quickly as possible, therefore it
would be in their best interests to proceed along the
following lines:
Shipowner advises circumstances of the rescue to UNHCR and FCO
a)
The master should report the rescue to the Geneva
Office of the UNHCR or one of his regional repre-
sentatives either through the shipowners' head-
quarters in the United Kingdom or through the local
ships agents.
/ b)