"Jeff" wrote in message
...
D Parker wrote:
...

On a side note. Always make sure your grab back is bouyant. For instance
water bottles should not be full and should have lanyards. Then they will
float and not sink if lost overboard.


My Father-in-Law spent 18 days in a lifeboat when his tanker got torpedoed
off of The Cape Verde Islands at the end of WWII. The emergency radio
sank when it was dropped getting into the boat! Even if the transmitter
was not strong enough to reach anyone, the receiver would have provided
time signals for determining Longitude. As it turned out, my FiL was the
radio officer, and had calibrated his watch, which survived.

After 13 days they reached Tobago but were afraid to make a night
approach, and ended up drifting by. They were picked up near Curacao 5
days later.

Wow.. scary stuff.. particularly in those days when SAR wasnt near as
advanced as it is these days.

D{