From 2/15/01</font id=blue>
The summer before last I was working in Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey collecting sediment samples when I heard “Pan-Pan…Pan-Pan…Pan-Pan” broadcast over the our research vessel’s VHF radio. I immediately stopped the winch and shut down the generator so I could hear the call clearly. The call continued “All stations this is commercial fishing vessel Sunrise, we are located 5 miles east of channel marker M-2 and require immediate assistance. One of our thru-hull fittings has popped loose and we are taking on water faster than our bilge pumps can handle. We have a crew of four on board and our current location is latitude 40 degrees 10.33 minutes north, and longitude 74 degrees 01.12 minutes west this is fishing vessel Sunrise, over.” There was a brief period of silence and then I heard “This is United States Coast Guard Station Manasquan,” and the Coast Guard continued by asking the captain of the Sunrise a few more questions before deploying a cutter with a pump to render assistance to the fisherman. Following the conversation with the Coast Guard several vessels responded to the fisherman’s call hailing the Sunrise on channel 16, identifying themselves, providing their position, bearing, speed, and estimated time of arrival on the scene and letting them know that once they arrived they would stay with the Sunrise until the Coast Guard arrived.
Last week Andy talked about some of the advantages of a VHF radio over a cell phone. Just analyzing the situation above can effectively do a quick recap of his article. First of all we know the vessel is well over 5 miles offshore and most cell phones have trouble reaching much beyond this distance from land. Second, the Captain called all stations (therefore all vessels) within the vicinity that could respond and render assistance, not to mention the captain reached the Coast Guard immediately rather than calling 911 to have an operator patch him through, and finally the Coast Guard could use his radio signal to find him had