fisherman wrote a highly critical letter to the Editor following the July 24 rescue of his fishing boat. Quite why the Ministry of Transport felt it necessary to respond to the letter is something of a puzzle. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of boating or of the excellent job done by Harbour Radio understood on reading the letter that it was simply "off the wall''. The skipper blamed everything but his own failings.

Several members of the boating public have now come to the defence of Harbour Radio with letters and they are the very best indication of the regard in which Harbour Radio is held. Criticism is rare and praise is constant, especially from visiting yachtsmen who have experienced harbour control in other places. Many people regard Bermuda's Harbour Radio as among the very best and most efficient.

We think the letter writer himself made it clear in his attempts at criticism that Harbour Radio had functioned very well during a surprise July 24 storm.

The boat was in very little danger, it was large and heavy and it was moored.

Given the circumstances it received good service.

The letter writer's main problem seems to be that it took awhile to find a boat big enough to effect the rescue and he felt that everyone should drop everything and everyone else's problems and rush solely to his rescue, even though he was moored and safe.

Just how he moved in his letter from that issue to a racial problem is difficult to ascertain. But then it seems that in Bermuda today almost anything can become a racial issue.

He wrote: "Had I been a white yachtsman from a foreign country...I would not have had a problem being rescued. But instead I am only a hard working black Bermudian fisherman, so I guess that counts for nothing in the minds of the personnel of Harbour Radio.'' As we see it that statement is totally unnecessary. We are quite certain that the personnel at Harbour Radio have absolutely no interest in what race anyone being rescued is except that they are from the human race. People with problems at sea are simply that.

As the Ministry of Transportation statement said: "If there had been an immediate threat to safety of life, a Marine Police fast rescue boat would have been tasked to remove the persons on board.'' There was no danger to this boat and the skipper seems merely to be angry that his rescue took time.

Yes, courtesies are extended to visiting yachtsmen as they should be but it is highly unlikely that they receive preferential treatment even in an emergency.

So what have we here? It certainly appears to be an unjustified complaint and unjustified accusations against an operation which serves Bermuda well.