Very shortly after the second world war merchant seamen found that they had inherited a device which shipbuilders and owners fondly imagined would prove to be an infallible safeguard against navigational hazards: this was radar. After fifteen years had been devoted to examining the disappointing results provided by the new panacea, the International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea, held in London in i960, finally published a radar code. So eagerly had this code been awaited that the Conference recommended its issue without waiting for the new international convention to be implemented.