He had a ship radio, a satellite phone, a PLB and maybe a E-PIRB.
The PLB (personal location beacon) is about the size of a cell phone, is registered to the person and when activated, sends a satellite signal which is received by emergency rescue centers stationed all over. The E-PIRB is a bit bigger, is registered to and attached to the ship, and can be activated manually or by submersion in water after which it will release itself from its bracket and hopefully float to the surface and continue to automatically send a distress signal via satellite. The PLB battery emits a signal for 24 hours and the E-PRIB for 48 hours. No dialing is needed.
The satellite phone would be used to call anyone he wanted to call, including the CG, friends, family. The radio would be for a May Day to all ships in the area, if any.
All of these devices would be used if the person in distress was able to reach the radio and the satellite phone was not already lost. If the radio and the phone were unavailable for whatever reason the other 2 devices would be sending distress calls.
While still afloat and taking on water, I hope I would May Day over the radio if I could reach it, activate the E-PRIB, the PLB on my life vest and then start calling friends all within minutes while prepping to activate the life raft and gathering supplies for same while scanning the dark water for my missing spouse as the ship flounders out of control. You never know until you are there.
Thank you so much for the post. I find it very informative, especially as someone with zero boating experience! "You never know until you are there": That is so true.
According to MSM reports, it sounds like Bennett did pretty much exactly what you said you would in a similar situation:
"Bennett told authorities that he last saw his wife about 8 p.m. Sunday as she stood at the helm of their boat,
2nd Class Petty Officer Jonathan Lally said Monday afternoon.
'He was beneath the deck, sleeping, when his vessel struck an unknown object,' Lally said.
Bennett used an EPIRB an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon which uses satellites to send a distress signal to rescuers.
Bennett also used a personal locator beacon when he was found floating in a life raft, Lally said." (BBM)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/p...ach-missing-bahamas-woman-20170515-story.html
"At about 1 a.m.,
the Coast Guard says, Bennett used a satellite phone to call the International Response Coordination Center, a private company, which passed the SOS to the Coast Guard. Managers at the coordination center did not respond either to calls or to an email seeking details of Bennetts SOS."
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...mystery-missing-woman/5reNR5lTYpl2kcOKNxdxaP/
One thing that's missing from either article is the ship radio.
Again, I don't know anything about boats but am assuming that his ship did have a radio. I haven't been able to find anything that says Bennett used it, but maybe it was used and has not been reported. If he didn't, perhaps he couldn't reach it. Or is it possible that he chose not to use it because he had done something he didn't want anyone to see while still on board the ship, and did not want to attract attention of any ships that might be in the area?
As to the call made from Bennett's satellite phone, this appears to be the "private company, which passed the SOS to the Coast Guard":
http://geosresponse.com/index.html
Here is another article from about a year ago that references the service:
"The Coast Guard said the men used their satellite phone to make a distress call to the International Emergency Response Coordination Center.":
http://www.click2houston.com/news/crews-search-for-2-missing-men-in-gulf-of-mexico
It is curious to me that to the best of my knowledge, the call Bennett supposedly made to a friend on the Gold Coast has never been mentioned by the USCG. I do believe that there was a call made:
"The friend then called volunteer coast guards at Southport, who alerted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority who, in turn, forwarded the information onto US coast guards.
...
'Never before have I heard this happen,' said Ian McPhail, an Australian Volunteer Coast Guard duty radio officer for 17 years at Southport.
'They were quite panicky, the (friend) received a satellite call from (Mr Bennett) saying he had hit a reef and his wife had gone overboard.'"
http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au...e/news-story/ce6bac1032afb68b534a94746fcc71f9
If the Australian friend was the first person Bennett called
after the International Response Coordination Center, then I wouldn't find that suspicious at all; perhaps s/he is someone who knows a lot about boating.
I still do find it interesting that the Coast Guard hasn't said anything about the call. Maybe it's because in their opinion, it's irrelevant. Or perhaps it's because they knew about it but Bennett never mentioned it to them, which they found suspicious. But in that case, maybe Bennett just forgot about it.
Regardless, there must be something about this case that was compelling enough for the FBI to join the USCG investigation.
ETA: But then again, maybe he did all of this to ensure that
he was found and rescued. Couldn't he have harmed Isabella on the boat, weighted the body and thrown it into the ocean all before getting into the raft? Would he have been able to somehow flood the vessel, make sure that the E-PIRB was activated -whether manually or by submersion- followed by the PLB and the phone calls? But how would he know for sure he would survive? And if there was foul play involved, how would anyone be able to prove it, especially if it is true that the boat is now lost.
.
