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National Sea Resue Institute Port Elizabeth, South Africa  Shawn Phillips, NSRI Base in Port Elizabeth, SA 2009  Last Sunday morning, @ 01:00, I went downstairs to get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and when I came upstairs, I went out onto the balcony, to look at the stars, and as I was looking out to sea, I saw a red distress flare go up, about 5 to 8 miles out. I could see the lights from the boats, and saw that one of them was a fair size ship. My first thought was, this better not be a fucking joke, 'cause it's about to get real expensive. I got my radio, and went to the emergency maritime channel, (16), and said, "Unknown Vessel", (repeat 3 times), "This is National Sea Rescue", (X3), "I saw your flare. Are you in difficulty? Do you have a problem? Do you copy my traffic?" Whoever it was, got back to me immediately, and said there's been a collision, and there are men in the water. We need help. I said I was in the NSRI, and that I would have help on the way immediately. At that point, Port Control in PE broke into our transmissions, and asked me what vessel I was, and I told them that I was not a vessel, but that I had seen the flare from my home in Seaview, and that I was with the NSRI, and was calling right away. They said we've already called, and Statcom, has already put the rescue operation in motion. 4 minutes later, my cellphone went off with the Code Red call in. I got dressed, and drove in," Read more.... |
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