Emergency Beacons Save Lives
An Emergency Beacon greatly increases a distressed boater’s chance of rescue.
(Photo credit: ACR Electronics, Inc and reprinted with permission of the National Safe Boating Council)
What Boaters Should Know About Distress Signals
By Sydney Hay, Chief, Editorial Services Branch, Recreational Boating Safety, Outreach Directorate (U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary)
Carrying an Emergency Beacon with you when you are on the water can save your life.
An Emergency Beacon, such as a hand-held Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) or an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), can be used in an emergency to noti- fy rescue authorities that you are in trouble and can assist them in finding you more quickly.
PLBs and EPIRBs operate in substantially the same way, by transmitting a coded message on the 406 MHz distress frequency.
In the U.S., your beacon must be registered. An EPIRB is specifically designed for maritime applications and is registered to the vessel while a PLB is smaller and lighter to make carrying easier and is registered to the person. If your beacon is activated, either by you or automatically by it hitting the water (if so designed), the registration information will give re- sponders what they need to know to help them better assist you. In the event of an accidental activation, the registration info will enable Search and Rescue coor- dinators to contact you prior to dispatching rescue per- sonnel unnecessarily.
EPIRBs should be mounted to the vessel in an area without overhead obstructions or placed in a “ditch bag,” a floating container containing emergency equipment. PLBs are small enough to attach to a life jacket. And while attaching that PLB, don’t forget to affix a sound-producing device such as a loud whistle to that jacket.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion (NOAA) operates the Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system to detect and lo- cate distress signals from mariners, aviators, and recre- ational enthusiasts almost anywhere in the world at any time and in almost any condition using satellites that relay distress signals from emergency beacons to a network of ground stations and ultimately to the U.S. Mission Control Center (USMCC.) The USMCC noti- fies the appropriate search and rescue authorities as to who is in distress and where they are located. In calen- dar year 2020, NOAA reported that 217 people in 83 incidents were rescued at sea by this system. As the NOAA website says “… SARSAT takes the ‘search’ out of search and rescue!”
The Coast Guard recently reported rescuing two peo- ple aboard a disabled sailing vessel approximately 60 miles northwest of Marathon, Florida. Coast Guard Seventh District watch standers received a PLB alert at approximately 2:30 am. Coast Guard Air Station Mi- ami launched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew who located the disabled 50-foot sailing vessel, White Pearl, and requested a nearby good Samaritan aboard the sailing vessel, Mystic, to monitor the situation until a Station Key West small boat crew arrived on scene.
The Station Key West crew took the vessel in tow and transferred the tow over to commercial salvage, who brought the disabled vessel to Fleming Key with no reported injuries.
“This case is a perfect example of proper boater prepa- ration, inter-agency partners and the boating public coming together to save lives,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Tom Gargiulo, a Station Key West engineer.
All Coast Guard Auxiliary boat crew members are is- sued a PLB that they must have attached to their PFDs when on patrol. Recreational boaters would do well to equip themselves and their boats with such a device. It could save their lives.
The U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Rules list the following distress signals that, when used or exhibited together or separately, indicate distress and need of assistance:
- a gun or other explosive signal fired at intervals of about a minute;
- a continuous sounding with any fog-signaling apparatus;
- rockets or shells, throwing red stars fired one at a time at short intervals;
- a signal made by radiotelegraphy or by any oth- er signaling method consisting of the group . . .– – –. . . (SOS) in the Morse Code;
- a signal sent by radiotelephony consisting of the spoken word “Mayday”;
- the International Code Signal of distress indicat- ed by N.C.;
- a signal consisting of a square flag having above or below it a ball or anything resembling a ball;
- flames on the vessel (as from a burning tar bar- rel, oil barrel, etc.);
- a rocket parachute flare or a hand flare showing a red light;
- a smoke signal giving off orange-colored smoke;
- slowly and repeatedly raising and lowering armsoutstretched to each side;
- the radiotelegraph alarm signal;
- the radiotelephone alarm signal;
- signals transmitted by emergency position-indicating radio beacons;
- approved signals transmitted by radiocommuni-cation systems, including survival craft radar transponders.
