1. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN jointly by the Queen’s Harbour Master Portsmouth and the Harbour Master ABP Southampton that many warships and merchant vessels (including ferries) operating within the Dockyard Port of Portsmouth and the Port of Southampton are at various times “vessels constrained by their draught” or “vessels who can safely navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway”.
2. Save for the exception at Paragraph 3 below, these vessels, when so constrained, are to show the signals prescribed in Rule 28 of the International Regulations for Preventing Collision at Sea , namely three all-round red lights in a vertical line, or a cylinder, in order to be afforded the privileges of Rules 8(f)(i) and (ii) (Actions to avoid collision), 9 (Narrow channels) and/or 18(d)(i) (Responsibilities between vessels when one is constrained by draught).
3. Submarines operating on the surface within the Dockyard Port of Portsmouth and the Port of Southampton are to be considered vessels who can safely navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway in accordance with Rule 9 (Narrow Channel) even when not showing the signals prescribed in Rule 28.
4. If the masters or skippers of vessels under 20m in length, sailing vessels or crossing vessels are in any doubt as to whether a particular vessel is indeed a vessel which can safely navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway or a vessel constrained by its draught, then they are always to give it the benefit of the doubt and treat it as such.
5. Portsmouth LNTM 09 /19 is hereby superseded.
Wednesday 01 Jan 2020
G A F Sherwood
Queen's Harbour Master
Owners, Agents, Charterers, Marinas, Yacht Clubs and Recreational Sailing Organisations should ensure that the contents of this Notice are made known to the masters or persons in charge of their vessels or craft.
