iv. The ships mentioned in Articles i., ii. and iii. shall afford relief and assistance to the wounded, sick and shipwrecked of the belligerents independently of their nationality.
The governments engage not to use these ships for any military purpose.
These ships must not in any way hamper the movements of the combatants.
During and after an engagement they will act at their own risk and peril.
The belligerents will have the right to control and visit them; they can refuse to help them, order them off, make them take a certain course, and put a commissioner on board; they can even detain them, if important circumstances require it.
As far as possible the belligerents shall inscribe in the sailing papers of the hospital-ships the orders they give them.
v. The military hospital-ships shall be distinguished by being painted white outside with a horizontal band of green about a metre and a half in breadth.
The ships mentioned in Articles ii. and iii. shall be distinguished by being painted white outside with a horizontal band of red about a metre and a half in breadth.
The boats of the ships above mentioned, as also small craft which may be used for hospital work, shall be distinguished by similar painting.
All hospital-ships shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with their national flag, the white flag with a red cross provided by the Geneva Convention, and, in addition, if they belong to a neutral State, by hoisting on the mainmast the national flag of the belligerent under whose direction they are placed.