For Immediate Release

CW Super-Station Operator at Globe Wireless Saves a Life at Sea

Radio Officer in California Alerts Authorities to Man-Overboard Situation in the Gulf of Mexico

Half Moon Bay, California (August 8, 1997):

The life of a ship’s cook was saved today by the efforts, in part, of an alert Radio Officer at the CW Super-Station operated by Globe Wireless in Half Moon Bay, California.

Walter J. Kane, III, was on duty at the CW Super-Station control point in California.  From there he was monitoring the receivers connected to high-gain antennas at four radio stations on the U.S. East, Gulf and West coasts (KFS, KPH, WCC and WNU).

He heard a distress call from the vessel Oituz and relayed the information to the United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard, in turn, called in the Mexican Navy who affected the rescue of the, by then, very wet cook.

The detailed account below is in Mr. Kane’s own words:

At approximately 1745UTC, I detected a weak Morse Code signal on one of my local scanners calling WCC.  I answered the call, from the general cargo vessel Oituz, radio call sign YQIE, (on 8 MHz) and received a message which read:

FROM MV OITUZ YQIE TO ALL SHIPS STOP  PSN 1848N/09459W FROM VERA CRUZ TO FRONTERA REPORTED MAN OVERBOARD / COOK DESPINA GHEORGHE / MALE / ROMANIAN NATIONALITY STOP MASTER

I asked the ship to standby and telephoned the US Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) in New York who then teleconferenced me with the Duty Officer at USCG District 8 (New Orleans).  The Duty Officer plotted the vessel's position; it seems the vessel was actually in Mexican territorial waters, near Vera Cruz, Mexico, outside the jurisdiction of the USCG.

RCC asked me to ask the vessel if they were searching the area.  With an exchange of Morse Code messages, the Captain responded that he had a lifeboat in the water and was searching.  Upon relaying that information, the USCG indicated that all they could do was pass the information the Mexican Navy.

Later, I called Petty Officer Taylor at USCG District 8 and he told me that they had to ‘enlist’ the services of an AT&T interpreter but did get the message across to the Mexican Navy.  At approximately 1915 UTC the ship’s radio officer called, using Morse Code, to say:

1850 UTC CREW MEMBER REPORTED MISSING WAS FOUND ALIVE BY MEXICAN NAVY STOP  THANKS FOR YOU AND ALL ALERTED STATIONS

I called Petty Officer Taylor back to give him the good news and his response was:  "I feel good today, knowing I helped save someone's life."

I replied:  "Me, too."

A short time later the ship sent a message to it's owners which read, in part,

2/8/1600LT/2100UTC S.A.R. OPERATION FINISHED STOP  COOK DESPINA GHEORGHE OVERBOARD SAVED ALIVE BY MEXICAN NAVY A03 IN PSN 1848N/09459W STOP PATIENT AT PRESENT ON BOARD OF MEXICAN NAVY A03 UNDER MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN ROUTE TO COATSA COALCOS FOR REPATRIATION STOP
 
The Globe Wireless® CW Super-Station® combines the Morse Code facilities of four formerly independent public coast stations in the United States.  From a central control point in Half Moon Bay, California, this system offers Morse Code services to the hundreds of vessels using this venerable mode of communication in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico.

Globe Wireless® based in Foster City, California, is a tele- communications service provider dedicated to the modernization of high frequency (HF) radio for maritime applications.  Their new service, GlobeEmail®, is revolutionizing HF radio data communications by providing an alternative to satellite systems.  In addition, an entire range of wireless messaging electronic mail, facsimile, telex, and telegrams is available worldwide. The company operates the Global Radio Network® of public coast stations with nodes located in Australia, Bahrain, East Coast (US), Guam, Hawaii, California, Sweden, Newfoundland, Louisiana, New Zealand and South Africa.