Every aspect of their investigations points to the fact they should have been able to send a Mayday. Before dying and slipping below ships have screamed their death knells. SOS calls told of the foundering of the Israeli freighter Mezada in 1982, as with the 450-foot Elma Tres. These calls enabled rescuers to save what life they could. Although Bermuda seems isolated, in reality it is in the middle of an ocean swept with radio signals.
Several stations ring the Atlantic, studious in their scrutiny of the air waves.
Dozens of ears listen for any hint of distress. Should any trouble arise, aircraft are fitted with life rafts with automatic transmitters, life cushions and jackets. Floating Coast Guard stations are manned year around, plus several cutters cruise the waters. There are instances, though few, where a plane was able to ditch by such a cutter or station and the survivors were fed breakfast immediately afterward. In 1947, the CGC Bibb rescued all of the 69 crew and passengers of the clipper Bermuda Sky Queen , which ditched near Bermuda.