rescue of Rafts

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[?]w Radio Goes to the rescue of Rafts

CE the Kon-Tiki expedition, he Pacific has been the most opular ocean for drifters, fi the Frenchman, Dr. Alain )ard, in 1952, drifted across the itic from Europe to Barbados, le West Indies, in a rubber iy. irly every year somebody has at drifting on a raft across ocean. This year it is again >acific, but the latest expedi fid not go well, ly in December, 1955, a raft d La Cantuta, with a crew of men and a woman, set out Callao, in Peru, to drift to esia. 6 p.m. on February 21, a New nd amateur radio operator in iin, Mr. Joe Anderson, whose ;n is ZL4BK, made contact with mateur radio operator in na. The Panamanian radio tor told Mr. Anderson that r in the evening he had been ntact with La Cantuta, and fie had received the following itic distress message: ition 03.37 N 108.20 W require Andy Rost very ill, craft ' gasoline, water. In whirlpool les wide. i Arias, the Panamian operator sign is HPIJF) explained that is passing on the information thought that the New Zea operator could do something, ps a ship from New Zealand mte to the Panama Canal be somewhere in the area, raft’s position was well north e great circle route to the na Canal, of course, but son duly informed the New id authorities. As we now know enture was abandoned. (See ships News, this issue), lough La Contuta was not :o make it, in 1954 William made it alone. He was out of Callao, Peru, and 5 days drifted 11,000 miles the Pacific to Pago Pago, •n Samoa. voyage was more remarkable fiat of the Kon-Tiki, for Willis 1 alone, except for a cat and :ot, on a balsa wood raft half se of Kon-Tiki. And the pick p of his radio signals near id of his voyage was a triumph irofessional and amateur radio ;or. is set out on June 22, 1954, n the Pacific nobody knew about it. He carried a radio fitter, a Marconio life-boat nd before his departure he to the Peruvian authorities le would transmit his position at 16.00 hours and 23.00

hours Greenwich mean time, on the international distress frequencies of 500 and 8364 kilocycles. But after the first day out of Callao he was not heard.

Then Mrs. Willis got on the job.

After a silence lasting months, she was anxious about her 61-years-old husband. She wrote a letter to the American Relay League, which is the American amateur radio operators’ society, giving details of her husband’s planned drift and his radio equipment, and asking Society members to listen for her husband.

She wrote on September 7, 1954: “My husband, William Willis, has been drifting on his raft of balsa logs called the Seven Little Sisters in the Humbolt Current Pacific Ocean over the same route as the Kon-Tiki since June 22 (11 weeks to-day, 77 days) and no message has been received.

“I understood it is difficult to get the emergency frequency from here, but I thought, since he is nearing the islands in the Tuamotus, or Polynesian Group, the radio amateurs in that vicinity would be able to pick up his call letters if

they knew about him. I’ve heard that radio amateurs have contacts all over the world and I am wonder ing if any of your members could relay this information out that way.

“As I wrote you from Lima, Peru, at the end of June, my husband has a Marconi Salvita 3, hand-operated transmitter, which is an emergency transmitter. His call letters are ‘7HTAS’ (given to him by the Peruvian Government), which stand for the name of his raft in Spanish of Siete Hermanitas, which in English is Seven Little Sisters. He is to transmit at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Eastern Standard Time and possibly at other hours, except during the emergency silent period.

“He is to give his call letters, his position, and perhaps a short message. There must be many radio amateurs in the South Pacific and I feel sure if you could get to them we’d hear of my husband be fore long.”

MR. DOUG. BERRY, an amateur radio operator in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, received a photo

stat copy of this letter and he passed it over to Rarotonga Radio, the commercial communications station. , , Mr Doug. Cunnold was the Super intendent of the Rarotonga radio station, and also an amateur radio operator. He said, “All right, well listen for him.”

So daily at 12.30 p.m., Rarotonga time, an operator in the station would listen on the shortwave frequency of 8364 kilocycles for signals from the raft. Cunnold also listened on his own commercial communications receiver, forming a part of his amateur radio instal lation at his home.

Privately, we thought it was a waste of time, as by this time Willis had gone unheard for over 100 days.

Then, on October 13, Cunnold asked the operator tuning across the shortwave frequency if he could hear him. The operator shook his head, so Cunnold went over to his bunga low to listen on his own receiver.

Earlier that day he had been up at 5.30 a.m. to listen for Willis’s 1600 gmt transmission, but he had not heard anything.

Then Cunnold came hurrying back into the station with the star ling information that he had heard Willis. It had been sheer luck, for apparently Willis, throughout his voyage, had used his transmitter regularly, but it was incorrectly ad justed and it wasn’t until the voyage

was almost completed that he discovered and rectified the error.

At 12.40 p.m., Rarotonga time <2340 gmt) Doug. Cunnold tuned on to Willis’ weak, wavering signal and picked up the words, “Raft position 20 miles from Tutuila. Need help to land. All is well.”

The short message was immes aiely flashed to the Governing station at Pago Pago, and this rate station broadcast it to all ships < the international distress frequer of 500 kilocycles, asking them j monitor the raft s radio frequence Almost immediately the Gove;s

t vessel Manuatele put to sea to luct a search in the area East he island of Tutuila. She did sight the raft, but the next she put out again and found raft 27 miles northwest of lila and towed it into Pago Pago, le news was flashed to the world William Willis was safe, e, the professional operators in radio station, could not hear is’ signals with specially tuned ils, but a man, acting for the lent as an amateur, wi h an il consisting of just “a hunk of ” picked that signal out of the was a triumph for Doug, nold.