For Alaska shipwreck survivor, losing everything has been ‘sort of liberating’
EPIRBs are incredibly handy devices in an emergency.  Unlike SPOT trackers and such, the response is managed and coordinated by the US military. If your EPIRB signal makes it out, someone <i>will</i> come looking for you.<p>They work on dry land, too.  Very useful to have if you like to do trips to the desert backcountry.  I ended up purchasing a satellite phone after ditching my SPOT tracker but if I had to do it over, I&#x27;d just buy the EPIRB.<p>The marine versions activate automatically when dropped in the water.  Typically, on a sailboat, you would lash it somewhere on deck where it would pop up to the surface and activate if the boat sinks.  The outside of a life raft shell is one such spot.