Coast Guard to Present 'Rescue 21' Program at Museum

STURGEON BAY, WI (March 1, 2013) – The Door County Maritime Museum's popular Speaker Series resumes Thursday, March 7, with a program presented by United States Coast Guard personnel related to the new "Rescue 21" maritime emergency communication system. The presentation will be at the Museum in Sturgeon Bay beginning at 7 p.m.

Operation Specialists from the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan headquarters in Milwaukee will discuss this advanced command, control and direction-finding communications system. Rescue 21 was created to better locate mariners in distress and save lives and property at sea. The system enables the Coast Guard to execute its search and rescue missions with greater agility and efficiency.

The system replaces the National distress and Response System, which has been in use since the 1970s. Rescue 21 can more accurately identify the location of mariners in distress via towers that generate lines of bearing to the source of VHF radio transmissions. The end result is less search time.

The Speaker Series will conclude on Thursday, April 4, with the rescheduled program by George Houde, who was the creator and executive director of the television series "Great Lake Warriors" which appeared on The History Channel last summer. The program was originally scheduled for February but was postponed due to a snowstorm.

All of the programs begin at 7 p.m. at the Sturgeon Bay museum. They are free of charge and open to the public with donations appreciated. Call 920-743-5958 or visit www.dcmm.org for more information.