Incidents · distress

Distress received from M/V big island, two persons on board, in 18-28.20S 163-54.96E

Coral Sea · HYDROPAC 809/08

What this record establishes

Archived notice · 2008-06-14 09:12Z

This notice comes from the historical archive. Its archived status does not establish when or how the reported situation ended.

Source and dates: NGA MSI broadcast-warn JSON (archive, frozen 2024-05) · MRCC NOUMEA 280936Z APR 08; NAVAREA XI 187/08.. Issued 2008-04-28 12:44Z. First collected 2026-08-17 13:38Z; last seen in collection 2026-08-17 15:46Z. Collection dates record ingestion, not a new incident or a fresh field observation.
Location covered: Coral Sea. The parsed report position is -18.470, 163.916. It is a position in the source message, not a live location. Check the original wording for limits and qualifications.

Original warning text

1. DISTRESS RECEIVED FROM M/V BIG ISLAND,
   TWO PERSONS ON BOARD, IN 18-28.20S 163-54.96E.
   VESSELS IN VICINITY REQUESTED TO KEEP A
   SHARP LOOKOUT, ASSIST IF POSSIBLE. REPORTS
   TO MRCC NOUMEA, INMARSAT: 422799194,
   PHONE: 68 729 2332 OR 68 726 4772,
   FAX: 68 729 2303 OR 68 729 4044.
2. CANCEL HYDROPAC 794/08(97).

Reading this warning

Persons on board (POB): The number of people reported aboard a vessel in distress, overdue or missing.
Position (degrees and minutes): How warnings write positions: degrees, a hyphen, then minutes, with N/S and E/W — 49-40.8N 003-43.8W.
Keep a sharp lookout: A request to every ship in the area to watch for the vessel, people or object described.
Assist if possible: The second half of the standard rescue request: ships able to help are asked to do so.
MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre): A rescue coordination centre for maritime cases only, such as MRCC Fort-de-France or MRCC Vietnam.
Inmarsat-C / SafetyNET: The satellite system that carries NAVAREA warnings to ships at sea, and the terminal number rescue centres give for reports.
Cancellation reference: A line that cancels an earlier warning by its number, such as CANCEL HYDROLANT 1085/12.
HYDROPAC: The U.S. long-range warning series for the Pacific outside NAVAREA XII and for the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and adjoining seas.

All warning terms →

Collected reports in this area · distress & casualty cases (archived)

10 within 180 nm since 2003 · 0 in the last 12 months · 0 listed in force now

Counts include repeat notices about the same situation. NGA archive coverage ends 2024-05; live collection began 2026-08-17. The period between them is incomplete. An empty year is not evidence that no hazards occurred.

Rowboat maiwar, unreported2023-10-05
7.9 meter vessel, five persons on board, overdue2019-09-11
Search and rescue operation in progress in 18-37.2S 163-13.1E2019-07-11
S/V tuatha de danann, one person on board, aground in 19-30S 163-14E2015-04-02
Vessel dannan tuatha, taking on water due to collision in 19-30S 163-14E2015-04-02
Derelict five meter vessel capsized and adrift vicinity 20-29.66S 165-45.98E2015-03-19

Month of issue in the collected archive

All available years combined. Uneven collection and repeat bulletins affect these counts; this chart does not measure the seasonality or probability of incidents.

Nearby notices listed in force · within 120 nm

No other collected notice is currently listed in force within this radius. This does not establish safe conditions.

Worldwide in the collected sources

0 distress & casualty cases (archived) listed in force · see all

Record snapshot 2026-10-02 09:33Z; source collection times vary.

Incidents

Search-and-rescue broadcasts, published only once a case has been closed for 30 days: groundings, sinkings, capsizes, fires, man overboard, overdue vessels. Nothing here is live. All current distress & casualty cases (archived) →

Not for navigation. This is a re-rendering of an official navigational warning for awareness; mariners must use official NAVAREA broadcasts and their national MSI service.