USCG Follow Friday #1: AMVER

Shipmates,
There is a tradition on Twitter to recommend favorite fellow Twitter users each Friday. I plan to use Friday's to highlight another great official Coast Guard blog or website.

I'd like to start with....

The Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER)

Amver, sponsored by the United States Coast Guard, is a unique, computer-based, and voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea.With Amver, rescue coordinators can identify participating ships in the area of distress and divert the best-suited ship or ships to respond.

Amver's mission is to quickly provide search and rescue authorities, on demand, accurate information on the positions and characteristics of vessels near a reported distress.

The best place to keep up with AMVER's activities is the AMVER blog

AMVER is another Coast Guard function, like the Auxiliary, that harnesses the power of people's desire to do good in order to save lives. In the case of the Auxiliary this is U.S. Citizen volunteers, for AMVER it is the world's shipping companies, ships captains and crew. Like the Auxiliary, the participants in the AMVER system are not paid but they uphold the finest traditions of service to their fellow mariners by doing more than simply offering their help should they come upon distress --- they are willing to go far out of their way to render that life saving assistance.

Bravo Zulu to Ben, Bev, all the other Guardians who make AMVER possible, and all the participating companies and crews.

Ahead for week #2, the Coast Guard Compass and week #3 iCommandant.