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Off Florida News

21 Nov 2022

At Least One Dead after Cuban Migrant Vessel Capsizing off Florida

©USCG/Twitter

The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday said it had recovered the body of one person after a vessel carrying Cuban migrants capsized off Florida's Little Torch Key, adding it rescued nine people and was searching for five others. Survivors told rescuers a total of 19 people were originally on the homemade vessel and that four people drowned immediately after it capsized, Coast Guard spokesperson Nicole Groll said. Rough seas and winds of 30 miles per hour made an already dangerous voyage more perilous, she said.

11 Nov 2022

Divers Find Challenger Space Shuttle Wreckage Off Florida Coast

Underwater explorer and marine biologist Mike Barnette and wreck diver Jimmy Gadomski explore a twenty-foot segment of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger, the team discovered in the waters off the coast of Florida, U.S., during the filming a History Channel documentary called "The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters", in this handout picture taken May, 2022. (Photo: The HISTORY® Channel)

Divers from a documentary crew looking for the wreckage of a World War Two aircraft off the coast of Florida found a 20-foot section of the space shuttle Challenger, which exploded and broke apart shortly after its launch in 1986, NASA said on Thursday.The divers contacted NASA after spotting a large, clearly modern object mostly covered in sand at the bottom of the ocean and bearing the shuttle's distinctive tiles, the space agency said in a written statement."This discovery gives us an opportunity to pause once again…

10 Aug 2022

Five More Migrants Lost at Sea from Capsized Makeshift Vessel off Florida

A cruise ship rescued one person and transferred the individual to Coast Guard crews after being found swimming off the Florida Keys, Aug. 5, 2022. The person's rustic vessel capsized approximately 14 miles off Sugarloaf Key. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Coast Guard Cutter Issac Mayo's crew)

The U.S. Coast Guard has called off its search for five migrants missing in waters off the Florida Keys since their makeshift vessel capsized on Friday, adding to the dozens lost at sea in attempted boat crossings from Cuba in recent months.The five who disappeared about 14 miles (23 km) south of Sugar Loaf Key brought to seven the toll of dead or presumed dead in Friday's accident, even as the Coast Guard on Tuesday repatriated another 43 Cubans intercepted elsewhere in the Keys…

27 Jul 2021

Florida Senators Move to Firm Up Offshore Drilling Ban

Senator Marco Rubio - Credit: rubio.senate.gov

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the American Shores Protection Act to codify the moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the coasts of Florida that was put in place by September 8, 2020, Executive Order by then-President Trump. Under the legislation, the moratorium would be in place for the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic until 2032.Congressman Michael Waltz (R-FL) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

12 May 2021

Enviros Petition Feds for Whale-saving Slow Vessel Rule off Florida

© buenaventura13 / Adobe Stock

Environmental groups urged the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on Tuesday to establish a year-round speed limit for ships in areas of the Gulf of Mexico, home to one of the most endangered whales worldwide, to prevent deadly collisions.The Natural Resource Defense Council and other groups asked the NMFS in a petition to limit the speed of vessels that navigate Gulf waters off the Florida panhandle to 10 knots. The area is home to the endangered Gulf of Mexico whale of which only about 50 survive.

10 Dec 2020

Seafarer Exploration Discovers Colonial-era Shipwreck Material Off Florida

Illustration Only - Credit: LEO

Subsea salvage and exploration company Seafarer Exploration Corp. said Thursday it had discovered a large concentration of colonial-era shipwreck material in Area 2 off Melbourne Beach, Florida. "The historic period shipwreck material comprises a variety of artifacts situated within a concentrated area and includes standing rigging, ships fittings, rope and wood fragments," Seafarer Exploration said.According to the company, the historic artifact area is still under investigation…

19 Oct 2020

Cruise Ship Makes Rescue off Florida

(Photo: Carnival Cruise Line)

A cruise ship idling without passengers came to the aid of a small craft in distress in international waters 37 miles off the coast of Palm Beach, Fla., on Saturday.Upon seeing the boat in the water, the 855-foot Carnival Sensation maneuvered alongside the craft and provided blankets, life jackets, food and water to the 24 people on board, which included individuals from various nationalities and two children, operator Carnival Cruise Line said.When the boat began taking on water, Carnival Sensation rescued all 24 individuals and brought them on board.

24 Sep 2020

Iranian Fuel Seized by US Remains in Tankers at Sea

Tankers carrying Iranian gasoline that was confiscated by the U.S. government and became embroiled in a court ownership battle have struggled to discharge in the United States, shifting course over the last week.The U.S. Department of Justice last month seized over 1 million barrels of Iranian fuel on board four privately-owned tankers bound for Venezuela, part of Washington's efforts to disrupt trade between the two sanctioned nations.The fuel has been at sea ever since, aboard two separate vessels that took the fuel in July and have zig-zagged at sea as they search for a terminal to discharge.The July seizure initially appeared a win for President Donald Trump's efforts to isolate the two nations.

16 Apr 2020

Injured Crewman Airlifted from Bulker off Florida

(Credit: USCG)

A crewman injured from a fall on board a Cyprus-fagged bulk carrier was medevaced in the Gulf of Mexico, 13 miles west of Fort de Soto, Fla., Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.The Coast Guard said its watchstanders in Sector St. Petersburg received a VHF marine radio call on channel 16 at approximately 4:30 p.m. from the 600-foot vessel Mottler stating the crew member had fallen and was in need of medical care.A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew responded to the call…

30 Aug 2019

Florida Braces for a Hit as Dorian Strengthens

The NOAA National Hurricane Center Storm Cone situation at 1100 hours local on 30 August 2019.

Florida's governor on Friday urged residents in the state to stock up on at least a week's worth of food, water and medicine and to prepare to lose power and cellphone service for days after Hurricane Dorian makes landfall early next week.The slow march and rising intensity of the storm, which is moving in a northwestern direction to the Bahamas, has alarmed forecasters who worry parts of Florida will be walloped by strong winds, a storm surge and heavy rain for an extended period."I think there’s a pretty high degree of certainty that this is going to be a major hurricane…

11 May 2018

US Military Seeks Rules for Drilling in Gulf of Mexico

File photo: U.S. Navy personnel detonate a floating mine during an exercise in the Gulf of Mexico (U.S. Navy photo by Patrick Connerly)

An expansion of oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico would interfere with U.S. military testing unless the Pentagon and another agency develop rules to govern the work, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a report this week.The Defense Department concluded in a report it sent on Wednesday to U.S. lawmakers that drilling east of the Military Mission Line in the Gulf of Mexico, a demarcation more than 200 miles (320 km) west of Florida, would harm military testing operations…

12 Mar 2018

US States Slow Trump Offshore Oil Drilling Expansion Plan

© Georg Lehnerer / Adobe Stock

The Trump administration's plan to broadly expand drilling in U.S. offshore waters is moving slowly due to opposition from coastal states and indifference from oil companies that have turned their focus to other opportunities. The administration hopes encouraging U.S. energy development outside of shale oilfields will further its goal of "energy dominance." But existing Obama administration lease rules remain in place through 2022 unless the new rules gain approval. The Department of the Interior this year proposed opening vast new acreage in the U.S. outer continental shelf to drilling.

16 Jan 2018

Casino Boat Catches Fire off Florida Coast, 15 Injured

Photo: New Port Richey PD

At least 15 people were injured when a fire engulfed a boat off the coast of Florida on Sunday, causing the 50 people aboard to jump into the Gulf of Mexico and swim to shore, local officials said. A preliminary investigation showed the fire broke out at about 4:17 p.m. EST from an apparent engine issue, said Shawn Whited, division chief with Pasco Fire Rescue. “The captain of the boat said there was an issue with the engine. He said he noticed smoke coming form the engine room and turned the boat around,” Whited said.

14 Aug 2017

Ailing Tanker Crewman Medavaced off Florida

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Clearwater approaches the 550-foot tanker Gaschem Stade, 13 miles west of Egmont Key, Florida, Monday, Aug. 14, 2017. The Jayhawk air crew medevaced a 55-year-old man from the tanker after he suffered heart attack like symptoms. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Gage Hunt)

A tanker crew member reportedly suffering from heart attack like systems was medevaced 13 miles west of Egmont Key, Fla. on Monday, August 14.    A U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter air crew from Air Station Clearwater medevaced the 55-year-old man from the 550-foot liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier Gaschem Stade, and brought him to Tampa General Hospital.

05 Aug 2016

Injured Mariner Medevaced from Tanker off Florida

Screenshot from U.S. Coast Guard video courtesy of Air Station Clearwater

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a man Thursday who sustained a head injury 90-miles east of Jacksonville. A Coast Guard Air Station Savannah MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew medevaced the 33-year-old man from the vessel Eagle Texas, an 800-foot tanker homeported in the Marshall Islands. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville command center watchstanders were notified Wednesday of a crew member who fell into a cargo hold and sustained a head injury. The vessel was 300-miles east of Jacksonville and changed course to rendezvous with rescue crews.

07 Dec 2015

Containers Overboard off Florida

Barge container ship, Columbia Elizabeth, is towed to Port of Palm Beach, Dec. 6, 2015. While enroute to Puerto Rico, several cargo containers fell overboard off the coast of Port Canaveral, Fla. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Multiple containers have fallen into the sea from a barge off the coast between Port Canaveral, Fla., and West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday. U.S. The U.S. flagged 136-foot Capt Latham was transiting to Puerto Rico as it tugged a 340-foot barge, Columbia Elizabeth, when crew aboard noticed several cargo containers hanging over the port side of the barge and believed more had fallen into the water while in transit, the Coast Guard said. The Capt Latham terminated its course toward Puerto Rico and diverted to Port of Palm Beach for further investigation.

19 Aug 2015

Treasure Hunters Find $4.5 mln in Rare Spanish Coins

Photo: 1715 Fleet - Queens Jewels, LLC

Florida treasure hunters found a trove of $4.5 million worth of Spanish gold coins 300 years to the day after a fleet of ships sunk in a hurricane while en route from Havana to Spain, the salvage owner said Wednesday. The 350 coins found on July 30 include nine rare pieces, known as royal eight escudos, which were being transported to the King of Spain, according to Brent Brisben. His company, 1715 Fleet - Queens Jewels, owns the rights to the wreckage. Only 20 such coins were known to exist prior to the recovery of the nine royals, Brisben said.

29 Oct 2014

USCG Rescues 33 Cuban Migrants off Florida

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 33 Cuban migrants from an overloaded boat taking on water off the southeast Florida coast on Wednesday, two days after 11 Cubans were pulled from the waters off the coast of Miami, officials said. Some of the 33 Cubans jumped in the water when they were spotted on Wednesday morning about 7 miles (11 km) east of Boca Raton, Florida, the Coast Guard said in a press release. "Upon our assets arriving on scene, the suspected migrants were taken aboard Coast Guard smallboat and safely transferred to a Coast Guard Cutter for basic medical attention if needed," the Coast Guard said. Two men are still missing from the group found clinging to debris from their wrecked raft on Monday.

30 Jul 2014

Family Finds Sunken Treasure Off Florida Coast

A Florida family scavenging for sunken treasure on a shipwreck has found the missing piece of a 300-year-old gold filigree necklace sacred to Spanish priests, officials said on Tuesday. Eric Schmitt, a professional salvager, was scavenging with his parents when he found the crumpled, square-shaped ornament on a leisure trip to hunt for artifacts in the wreckage of a convoy of 11 ships that sank in 1715 during a hurricane off central Florida's east coast. After the discovery last month, a team of Spanish historians realized the piece fit together with another artifact recovered 25 years ago. It formed an accessory called a pyx, worn on a chain around a high priest's neck to carry the communion host. The dollar value is uncertain.

29 Apr 2014

Genetic Yacht Lab Maps Sea Life Looking for Cures

A team of scientists has begun collecting the genomes of sea creatures off the Florida coast in the hopes that unmapped species, some of which have the capacity to reverse disease and injury in themselves, may hold the key to new treatments for humans. Of about 250,000 marine species identified so far, scientists have sequenced the genetic material of only about three dozen, according to University of Florida neuroscientist Leonid Moroz. To speed up the process of making potential new discoveries, a team led by Moroz used a yacht loaded with a fully equipped genomic laboratory to do the sequencing on the ocean in real time. The scientists sequenced 22 organisms during two test runs off Florida's Atlantic coast near the Bahamas over two weeks ending in early April, Moroz said.

28 Apr 2014

Coast Guard Searching for Overboard Cruise Ship Passenger

Courtesy Celebration Cruise Line

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) crews are searching by sea and air for a 30-year-old man who reportedly jumped over the railing of the Bahamas Cruise Ship Celebration early Sunday morning, 27-miles east of Delray Beach, Florida. James Miller of Charleston, South Carlina, a passenger aboard the vessel, reportedly went overboard early Sunday, the USCG said. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Seventh District in Miami received notification from the Celebration at approximately 2 a.m. Sunday.

18 Mar 2014

USCG: The Fleet Faces Forward

USCG Cutter Sapelo and the Royal Netherlands Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel HNLMS Holland search Caribbean Sea waters for bales of contraband jettisoned by Dominican drug smugglers.

The numerous cutters and craft of the U.S. Coast Guard —from the sail training ship Eagle to the large oceangoing patrol ships; from polar icebrakers to small utility boats — form a formidable fleet to meet the many challenging assignments undertaken by the service. In 2014 the Coast Guard continues its recapitalization program with its National Security Cutter (NSC), Fast Response Cutter (FPC) and Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC). The service plans to procure 91 cutters (8 NSCs, 25 OPCs and 58 FRCs) to replace are 90 aging cutters and patrol boats. According to a Feb.

28 Jan 2014

Ugly Ducklings & Steaming the Way to Victory in WWII

The S.S. Patrick Henry was the first of the Emergency Class Liberty  ships to be built and launched. The  famous quote by its namesake helped to give this class of ships its name. (Photo Credit: Library of Congress)

The design and construction of WWII Liberty cargo ships revolutionized shipbuilding by overhauling the blueprint process and standardizing on commonality of parts, welding, pre-fabrication and assembly line construction. Give me Liberty, or give me death!” a rallying cry of the Revolutionary War, got a second act in World War II. “Built by the mile and chopped off by the yard,” Roosevelt promised the no-frills Liberties would form a “bridge of ships” across the Atlantic. And they did. An exaggeration perhaps, but in truth, the Liberty wasn’t much to write home about.

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