News Release

Pitcairners continue their life-saving service to others.

1/23/04, Angwin (Napa County), Calif. --- Another seaman’s life was likely saved by the prompt actions of the Pitcairn people when the Sea Trade company’s ship “Eagle Bay” arrived at the island not long ago.

The chief engineer of the ship was dangerously ill when the ship arrived at Pitcairn. He had eaten nothing for a week and was vomiting blood.

Pitcairn’s Medical Officer Lyle Burgoyne, a nurse, went aboard the ship at the captain’s request, and on learning of the officer’s critical medical condition, ordered that he be brought ashore for intensive, immediate care. He was brought onto the island by longboat and put on an intravenous drip medication.

Burgoyne alerted the ship company’s headquarters in Amsterdam of the officer’s condition, and then contacted French Rescue Headquarters in Papeete, Tahiti, that they should be prepared to evacuate the man by air to hospital once the ship reached Mangareva in the Gambier Islands.

The medical evacuation was successful, and “Last we heard the patient was making a good recovery,” said an island spokesperson.

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Pitcairn Islands Study Center, 1 Angwin Ave., Angwin, CA, USA. Herbert Ford, 707-965-6625, 707-965-2047, Fax: 707-965-6504, Email: hford@puc.edu, Website: http://library.puc.edu/pitcairn