Having a cellphone and being able to use it could save your life in an emergency as was proven by a local doctor while mountain climbing a while ago. Still, using one unnecessarily while driving could cause a fatal accident.

That reminds me of a case in which a cellphone would have proven valuable while I was fishing at Moosehead Lake many years ago when cellphones were not even heard of. I was with Jack Flynn, a blind boy, and his father, Eugene. We were fishing off Sugar Island when a furious wind whipped the lake into a death trap and we were forced ashore at Derocher Cove on the island.

Before deciding to spend the night on the island, we checked the boat only to find a piece of driftwood had put a hole in it. We had plenty of food and built a fire to keep warm throughout the night. We felt that in the morning there would be people out fishing and we would be rescued, but this turned out to be a 72-hour blow and not a boat was seen.

While fishing I noticed a camp about a mile down the lake so we decided to walk down and spend the night in the camp. Before heading out from Beaver Cove we told the owner of the camp that we rented where we would go fishing which proved valuable as while heading down for the camp, I spotted a cabin cruiser which I hoped was looking for us. I managed to attract the people’s attention and they spotted us and got us aboard and back to Beaver Cove.

We learned the cruiser belonged to Guy Gannett, who had a summer place across from where we were stranded and was notified about our situation. We called our wives back home as they were very concerned after reading in the morning paper that two persons had drowned that day.

Tony Rogers

Bangor