it's a nightmare scenario you're in the
middle of the ocean and your ship sinks
so fast you can't even send a distress
it might not seem real but it can happen
the MV Darvish show is a no vote counter
that sank in 1980 she was almost 300
meters long and it's believed she sank
within seconds rather than minutes what
about another scenario you've slightly
more time and you can send a distress
you give your last known position but
that was taken six minutes previously in
that time uShip could easily have
traveled a couple of miles in both
scenarios one piece of equipment could
give rescuers vital information the ePub
Annie perb is an emergency position
indicating radio beacon their standard
equipment on vessels nowadays and they
can even be carried by individuals in
kayaks or if you're a hiker or something
today though we'll take a look a
standard maritime ePub that would be
carried on a ship this is a typical
example you've got the main body of the
epub which is waterproof enable to float
you have a switch for manual activation
and sensors on the bottom for automatic
activation then finally you've got the
antenna which needs a clear view of the
sky EPIRBs should be mounted in float
free containers these basically are just
protective housings with a hydrostatic
release that will cut the ePub free when
submerged in our list nor should a ship
sink before you can send a distress in
theory the eeper will float to the
surface and automatically activate
that's why those two sensors kick in all
they do is detect if a conductive medium
like sea water is present a small amount
of current passes between the contacts
tells the ePub that's been submerged and
needs to activate alternatively if you
have time to carry the unit and take it
into your survival growth then you can
activate it manually using the switch
either way you now have an ePub
desperately trying to tell the outside
world that help is needed to do that it
needs a clear view of the sky it needs
to get a direct line of contact with any
one of the satellites in the cosmos
Alsop system these are a network of
satellites orbiting the earth designed
to pick up these distress signals every
Pope will transmit its own identity to
the satellite system in addition to that
modern ones also transmit their GPS
location so they can be immediately
found of course even if you have an
older model that is not GPS enabled the
satellite can still find you what it
does is measure the Doppler shift in the
frequency of the transmission to work
out your position basically if the
signal has a higher frequency than
expected the satellite is moving towards
the transmitter and if it has a lower
frequency the satellite is moving away
the maths is complex but that frequency
shift is enough to give a location of
course GPS enabled beacons bypass all of
that and just tell the satellite where
they are so now a satellite knows the
identity and position of a distress
beacon that's been activated it's still
not much to go on but it's enough to get
help mobilized satellites send the
distress down to monitoring stations
where it's then passed on to regional
control centers these centers have
access to a database of all EPIRBs that
being registered this gives them
information about the vessel that the
EPIRBs registered to so they can plan
the rescue appropriately for example if
the center detects an activation of an e
Pope from a yacht they will know the
color of the hull the size of the yacht
and things like that all vital
information when an aircraft is sent to
search likewise the center detects an
activation of an e perb from a
commercial vessel they'll be able to
attempt contact using radio or satellite
communications they may then contact the
vessels owners who can provide passenger
and crew manifests or details of the
cargo that's carried again all vital
information when planning a rescue the
Rescue Coordination Center can then
commit assets be it passing ships or
aircraft or dedicated search and rescue
services they will have an accurate
position and details of who needs
rescuing all of which increase the
chances of a successful rescue so what
can you do to make sure this essential
piece of kit brings you help when you
need it well as we mentioned it needs to
be mounted in a clear space so that it
can float free should your vessel sink
rapidly if you take it into a lifeboat
make sure you activate it manually and
follow the instructions on the unit
itself it will probably say to tether it
to your life raft but to then leave the
device itself floating in the sea either
way make sure it has a clear line of
sight to the sky you don't want anything
to him
the path of the signal from the unit to
the satellite and finally make sure it's
registered giving rescue authorities
that details of your vessel can make all
the difference
give the folks in the helicopter the
best chance of finding you and that
brings us to the end of today's video
hopefully you found it interesting and
maybe learn something new for more
videos like this every other Friday be
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channel until next time thank you for
watching and good bye