will end with Bermuda saying goodbye to the rest of the world.

At 8 p.m. local time, Harbour Radio will join stations across the globe in signing off in Morse Code -- for the last time ever with their 30-year-old "tapper''.

Morse has been in constant use as a call sign for assistance for over 80 years, ever since the Titanic sent out a distress signal before it sank to become the most famous shipwreck of all time.

The international communications system is a throwback to the Victorian era -- and until this week still used by Harbour Radio to broadcast weather reports.

It has now been superceded by new technology. And with Morse, the SOS will also disappear although the Mayday sign will remain.

To mark the occasion, Harbour Radio was featured on the BBC World Service yesterday and on Sunday night operator Joe Pagnam will send the last message from the Island.

Scott Simmons, acting officer in charge at Harbour Radio, said they will probably send a farewell note from Bermuda to the other stations -- which include Cuba and Halifax, Nova Scotia -- signing off for the last time.

"It will be sort of sad,'' he said. "But Morse has had its day, it still works quite effectively but the technology has superceded it.

"Morse was around before the Titanic , but they used the SOS signal for the first time when the ship sank, before that the signal had been CQD but someone had come up with SOS.

"It is very much the same as it was, but we no longer use the headphones.'' Up until the 1980s, Cable and Wireless Bermuda offered a morse service to customers wishing to send international messages, and Harbour Radio was an important link for ships in the Atlantic.

The last time Harbour Radio took and sent an SOS, was in the 1980s when the El Materis sank 100 miles off the Island with the loss of many men, and when 24 men died on the sinking Mezada .

It was a simple and effective tool -- which transcended language barriers -- but its power and capability led to its demise.

Its range varied from 200 to 300 miles during the day and up to 600 miles at night when atmospheric conditions were better -- but still small distances compared to the vast oceans of the world.

In addition, a speed of up to 30 words a minute meant it eventually lost out to the rapid rise in information technology.

Morse has been replaced with a new distress and communications network that is set to be adopted all over the world.

The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) utilises digital and satellite technology to send messages and positional information from ships in distress.

The Emergency Positional Radio Beacon is mandatory for all vessels and automatically sends a signal which is picked up by satellite.

And Digital Selective Calling utilises a nine-digit code, unique to each ship, which enables messages to be sent from ship to ship and from ship to shore -- setting off an alarm at the receiver.

Morse ceased to be used over two years ago in the US and UK, but was kept on at Harbour Radio alongside the modern gear.

"Typically Third World countries employed it because they didn't have the money to buy the newer equipment and where English wasn't the first language,'' said Mr. Simmons.

"I can remember receiving some Greek news for the crew of the Horizon . They were very pleased with this piece of paper that someone could then translate.'' On Sunday, Harbour Radio will sign off in Morse using the same method as the Titanic 's wireless operators did over 86 years ago, but the message will be very different.

"We haven't decided what it will be,'' said Mr. Simmons. "But it will be some sort of farewell, to say goodbye to the other stations.''