Sec. 80.1121  Receipt and acknowledgement of distress alerts by ship 
          stations and ship earth stations.

    (a) Ship or ship earth stations that receive a distress alert must, 
as soon as possible, inform the master or person responsible for the 
ship of the contents of the distress alert.
    (b) In areas where reliable communications with one or more coast 
stations are practicable, ship stations in receipt of a distress alert 
should defer acknowledgement for a short interval so that receipt may be 
acknowledged by a coast station.
    (c) Ship stations operating in areas where reliable communications 
with a coast station are not practicable that receive a distress alert 
from a ship station which is, beyond doubt, in their vicinity, must, as 
soon as possible and if appropriately equipped, acknowledge receipt and 
inform a Rescue Coordination Center through a coast station or coast 
earth station (see Sec. 80.1115(a)(2)). However, a ship station 
receiving an HF distress alert must not acknowledge it but must observe 
the requirements of Sec. 80.1123, and must, if the alert is not 
acknowledged by a coast station within 3 minutes, relay the distress 
alert.
    (d) A ship station acknowledging receipt of a distress alert in 
accordance with paragraphs (b) or (c) of this section should:
    (1) Acknowledge receipt of the alert by using radiotelephony on the 
distress and safety traffic frequency in the band used for the alert;
    (2) If acknowledgement by radiotelephony of the distress alert 
received on the MF or VHF distress alerting frequency is unsuccessful, 
acknowledge receipt of the distress alert by responding with a digital 
selective call on the appropriate frequency.
    (e) A ship station in receipt of a shore-to-ship distress alert 
relay (see Sec. 80.1113(e)) should establish communication as directed 
and render such assistance as required and appropriate.