I was not planning on doing another blog entry from Hong Kong, but Ken sent this to us from the US, who got it from Bill Harrington, our friend and guide who traveled on Sans Souci while in the Aleutian Islands. Attu is the furthermost out of the Aleutian Island Chain, was a really fun place and I am sorry to see it shut down.

Even after World War II ended, young Coast Guard recruits at the electronics school in Groton, Conn., promised not to say the word "loran" and risk a leak about the top-secret navigation system that guided American bombers to targets in the Pacific.

"Everything was very confidential," said Don Funk, who manned the loran station on Attu Island for 13 months starting in 1946.

Not that he had much opportunity to tell anybody about his job as he stood watches on the most remote island of the Aleutian chain--close to Russia than to the mainland of Alaska.

"It was isolated duty," said Funk, now 86 years old and a resident of Lansing, Mich.

When the need for secrecy ended, the long range navigation system, or loran, revolutionized navigation for mariners and pilots, helping Alaskans settle the state's vast interior and develop the nation's most productive commercial fishing industry.

But manning the remote posts needed to operate the system remained one of the loneliest jobs in the world, until the last Coast Guardsman left Attu on Aug. 27, 2010.

The decommissioning ceremony for Loran Station Attu took place one day later than scheduled because dense fog typical for the Aleutians forced a Coast Guard C-130 to divert to nearby Shemya Island overnight. The airplane from Air Station Kodiak brought Funk and other guests and dignitaries to the island for a few hours before leaving with the entire 20-man crew.

If any of the folks who were manning the station read this blog......thanks so much for your hospitality while we were anchored there.  You made the trip a wonderful experience for all of us on Seabird, Sans Souci and Grey Pearl.

Oh, one more thing and sorry to those of you who already received the link by email.  Sea Magazine had a great article in it about the GSSR.  here is the link:

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/15b55866#/15b55866/67