67 If not already in touch with the security forces
of the littoral coastal State, efforts should be made to establish
contact. Crew preparations should be completed and, where a local
rule of the road allows ships under attack to do so, a combination
of sound and light signals should be made to warn other ships in the
vicinity that an attack is about to take place. Vigorous manoeuvring
should be continued and maximum speed should be sustained if navigation
conditions permit. Nothing in these guidelines should be read as limiting
the master’s authority to take action deemed necessary by the
master to protect the lives of passengers and crew.