The Six-Minute Logbook: How a Lighthouse Called Men Back From Death
Shownotes
The Six-Minute Logbook: How a Lighthouse Called Men Back From Death
Cold, isolated, and watching a causeway drown, a twenty-four-year-old lighthouse attendant wrote six words in a logbook at 11:47 PM on September 9, 2021 - “Vessel in distress, Channel 16, responding now.” The county’s automated radio log shows no Channel 16 transmission until 11:53 PM, when a vessel four point two miles offshore called in amid sixty-one-mile-per-hour winds - so what bridged that six-minute gap?
In this episode, we follow the sequence of events recorded in the Heron Point logbook and county radio records, the improvised shared antenna circuit between a lighthouse and a snapper boat, and the storm that left two men pulled from the water alive; could a coaxial splice and a passive splitter explain a radio that seemed to speak before it should?
Person: April Tucker
Date: September 9, 2021
Location: Heron Point Lighthouse, Calder Inlet, Merritt County
Vessel: Maren G., thirty-two-foot snapper boat
Wind: sixty-one miles per hour
- April Tucker wrote “Vessel in distress, Channel 16, responding now” at 23:47 in the Heron Point logbook.
- The county automated radio log shows the first Channel 16 transmission at 23:53, six minutes after the logbook entry.
- The calling vessel was recorded four point two miles offshore during the transmission at 23:53.
- Joe Ferris’s boat, the Maren G., is a thirty-two-foot commercial vessel whose VHF antenna had intermittent SWR spikes.
- Two men were pulled from the water alive at approximately 02:00 following the storm.
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© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
Cold, isolated, and watching a causeway drown, a twenty-four-year-old lighthouse attendant wrote six words in a logbook at 11:47 PM on September 9, 2021 - “Vessel in distress, Channel 16, responding now.” The county’s automated radio log shows no Channel 16 transmission until 11:53 PM, when a vessel four point two miles offshore called in amid sixty-one-mile-per-hour winds - so what bridged that six-minute gap?
In this episode, we follow the sequence of events recorded in the Heron Point logbook and county radio records, the improvised shared antenna circuit between a lighthouse and a snapper boat, and the storm that left two men pulled from the water alive; could a coaxial splice and a passive splitter explain a radio that seemed to speak before it should?
Person: April Tucker
Date: September 9, 2021
Location: Heron Point Lighthouse, Calder Inlet, Merritt County
Vessel: Maren G., thirty-two-foot snapper boat
Wind: sixty-one miles per hour
- April Tucker wrote “Vessel in distress, Channel 16, responding now” at 23:47 in the Heron Point logbook.
- The county automated radio log shows the first Channel 16 transmission at 23:53, six minutes after the logbook entry.
- The calling vessel was recorded four point two miles offshore during the transmission at 23:53.
- Joe Ferris’s boat, the Maren G., is a thirty-two-foot commercial vessel whose VHF antenna had intermittent SWR spikes.
- Two men were pulled from the water alive at approximately 02:00 following the storm.
Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.
Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-7198320
© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].