The Coolidge examiner., 1937-05-13
=: - ~: s.se%:
scuing Vessel Ship Wrong

slant, and the difference in the
transmission time, as measured by
a stop watch, gives the approximate
distance of the vessel from the sta
ton. This is easily computed when
it is remembered that sound in air
travels approximately mile in five
seconds. The distance, therefore,
is roughly the time lag" divided
by five.
A comparison of the number Of
Great Lakes ships which stranded
during the four years preceding the
use of radiobeacons, with the num-
ber for the four years following, in
dicates a so per cent reduction;
also the saving of time by vessels
taking radio bearings is a large
factor in economical navigation.
The dramatic use of SOS calls in
dangers and tragedies of the sea is
familiar enough. Radiograms to
and from friends on shipboard are
commonplace. Radio also serves
navigation in transmitting the cor
rect time, a service of prime i'm
portance in determination of longi-
tude at saa.
When wrecks obStruct channels,
or when storms drag buoys from
tEeir normal locations, radio affords
valuable means of broadcasting
such urgent information. Radio also
transmits reports from mariners
who observe defects in navigational
aids.
A vessel equipped with a radio
compass can take a bearing on
another ship sending radio signals,
and thus determine its direction at
sea by the same method it would
use with radiobeacon on shore.
This taking of bearings between
ship and ship diminishes the risk of
collision in fog, and it also helps
one ship to find another which may
be in distress. The rescue of the
crew of the British freighter Antinoe
by the United States ship President
Roosevelt in midAtlantic in Janu-
airy, 1926, is a notable example of
this use of radio bearings.
Capt. George Fried. then master
of the Roosevelt, Immediately
changed his course on receiving the
SOS, and radio bearings on the An
tinoe were taken every Is minutes.
He found the Antinoe's position as
given was some so miles in error;
but, steering by the radio bearings,
he reached the Antinoe in about
six hours. After three and a half
days heroic struggle, the Is men
of the sinking Antinoe were rescued.
Tragic loss of AZ lives, through
lack of equipment for taking radio
bearings, is shown in the wreck of
the Alaska, which sank the very
year that radiobeacons came into
use.
One August day in 1921, the Wah-
keena, in dense fog off Cape Men
docino, California, picked up an SOS
call from the Alaska. Having then
no device for telling from which
direction came the call for help,
the Wahkeena cruised for ten hours
before she could find the sinking
Alaska.
Not So Lonesome Now.
Today, of course, all outside tend
ers and lightships use radio, and
number of isolated light stations
and some tenders are equipped with
radio-telephones, which greatly IA
cilitate reports and orders in emer-
gencies.
At remote stations. the lightkeep-
er's life long has been symbol of
loneliness. Before the days of ra-
dio, all the keepers heard was wind
and waves, sea birds, or the fog
horns of passing ships. During
p6IlOu VI Odu WSdIllS1 III 1J1I, IlU
tender could reach the lighthouse on
Tillamook Rock, Ore, for seven
weeks. The station on Cape Sari-
chef, at the entrance to Bering sea,
went for ten months without any
mail or neWs-August, 1912, to
June, 1918!
Radio changed all that.
Before we got our RADIO" wrote
one keeper, "a new President might
have been elected a month before
we knew about it This time,
we heard it as soon as anybody.
The last two big prize fights, when
it was announced who was cham
pion, we heard it We listen
also to ministers preaching, and
there is singing. 1t is almost the
same as being in church When
storms blow, our sets keep us post
ed; we can take all necessary pre-
cautions and follow the progress of
the hurricane"