Renowned explorer Dom Mee told the story of his “double” EPIRB rescue at the recent Safety at Sea International Exhibition in Brighton.
Dom was rescued from his kite-powered purpose-built craft Little Murka in 2005 mid-Atlantic after he had activated his McMurdo EPIRB. In hurricane force winds and mountainous seas Little Murka had repeatedly rolled and broken free from her sea anchor before finally capsizing and filling with water.
When help arrived, and before he abandoned ship, Dom switched the EPIRB off and left both the EPIRB and his boat to their fate. Some 11 months later the yacht was washed up on the west coast of Ireland at Malin Head, having travelled un-manned 2,500 miles across the Atlantic.
There she was discovered by a fisherman who unwittingly triggered the EPIRB a second time, re-alerting the Search and Rescue authorities. They contacted Dom, and were able to re-unite him with not just his boat, to which he owed his survival during many storms, but also with his valuable film and photographic collection from the trip.
“As I abandoned ship I knew that the only way out was to keep hold of my EPIRB. At that moment it was the most important thing in my life. I recommend using the 406 precision GPS to save vital time and lives,” he said.
The story highlighted the value of carrying an EPIRB. The recent report by the Marine Accident Investigations Branch, following the sinking of the yacht Ouzo with the loss of three lives, stated: “An EPIRB and/or a liferaft would have dramatically increased the crew's chances of survival”.
