“Mayday, mayday, mayday!” is a distress signal sure to weaken the knees of even the hardiest sailor. However, for the seven-man team at the Maritime Operations Centre (MOC), dealing with a crisis is an almost daily occurrence. Last year 440 incidents were reported - from the most minor to full oceanic search and rescue operations involving the US Coast Guard.

Like the majority of men in his team, officer in charge Martin Williams was a former Merchant Navy radio operator, who explains how Bermuda’s geographic mid-Atlantic position is strategic to the staging of rescue missions many hundreds of miles into the Atlantic.

“While the Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre holds responsibility for the co-ordination of search and rescue around the Island generally, normally a rescue effort out to 30 miles from shore is all we can undertake on a consistent basis with the limited resources available locally.”

He adds that in all search and rescue cases, best use of all available resources is essential and this typically will also lead to merchant vessels in transit through the Bermuda area being located and asked to divert to an incident position, while US Coast Guard aircraft support may also be requested.

Mr. Williams explains that the Bermuda shipping registry is currently over six million tons and include some of the largest cruise ships in the world.

“Should any of these ships send out a distress call, the call will come into the Maritime Operations Centre. We are also the point of contact for any aircraft so if any beacons go off, we will also receive that signal,” he says.

On a large map against the wall that shows oceans around the world divided into various sections, Mr. Williams points to Bermuda and explains how the Island falls under the US Coast Guards’ area of responsibility in the Atlantic - which is the Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) in Norfolk, Virginia.

As for MOC’s relationship with the US Coast Guard, Mr. Williams describes it as a “close working” one: “They know our capabilities and our equipment, so if anything happens within two miles of the Island, they allow us to deal with it.”

However, should MOC require aircraft like C130’s or helicopters, these are dispatched from the US Coast Guard in Norfolk.

RCC in Bermuda forms an integral part of a network of rescue centres around the world, by participating in an Inmarsat satellite alerting system called SARNet gives RCC’s in Canada, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Spain, Finland and the UK the ability to broadcast information of common interest quickly and reliably.

However, MOC’s function as RCC is just one of three functions. It is also responsible for Vessel Traffic Surveillance (VTS) and the all important communications functions associated with the Coast Radio Station (CRS).

Aided by two sophisticated radar - of which one is stationed on top of Gibb’s Hill Lighthouse in Southampton, and another on top of the centre’s tower on Fort George Hill - they are able to monitor shipping routes.

Mr. Williams points out that over 1,000 private vessels call at Bermuda every year and all of these contact Bermuda Radio. Besides the processing of vessels through customs and immigration, detailed information on all private vessels calling at Bermuda are kept on file in the interest of safety.

This information, he says, is used in the event that should one of these vessels get into difficulty, or be reported overdue, the data becomes invaluable during the early stages of search and rescue planning.

“It can either expedite rescue, or prevent rescue units being dispatched unnecessarily in cases where a false distress alert may have occurred,” he adds.

On the radar monitor, he points to a section North of Bermuda.

“That’s the ‘Area To Be Avoided’(ATBA),” he says and explains that it extends some 20 miles North of the Island and was established in the 1980s as a means to protect the Island’s reefs. But how does it work?

Mr. Williams explains that in the mid-1980s three vessels ran aground including a fully-laden super tanker.

“It was after that the beacons were introduced along the reef line,” he explains. “International legislation introduced the ATBA and no ships over a certain size, or carrying dangerous cargo can go into this area unless we give them permission.”

Mr. Williams adds they have monitored this area every four hours since 1985, broadcasting to merchant vessels in transit past the Island to keep clear of the ATBA.

Meanwhile inbound and outbound ships and recreational boating traffic is monitored to and from port, as is the case with the large cruise ships.

As for MOC’s function as the Coast Radio Station for shipping, he says they transmit safety information to ships as well as weather warnings and tropical storm warnings through the hurricane season.

The team of dedicated duty officers, of which there are five watch officers and a senior radio officer, work six hour shifts that rotate over a 24-hour, seven days a week period.

“It can be a challenge,” he chuckles.

“With one person on watch dealing with so many different aspects of the job, an emergency call can come in from anywhere via satellite, phone, or radio.”