Sector Boston News

Bollinger Shipyards on Thursday announced it has delivered the USCGC Melvin Bell to the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West, Fla. This is the 181st vessel Bollinger has delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard over a 35-year period and the 55th Fast Response Cutter (FRC) delivered under the current program.“We’re incredibly proud to deliver the USCGC Melvin Bell, the final of six Fast Response Cutters to be homeported in Boston, the birthplace of the U.S. Coast Guard,” said Bollinger president and CEO, Ben Bordelon.

Bollinger Shipyards has delivered the USCGC William Sparling to the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West, Fla. This is the 180th vessel Bollinger has delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard over a 35-year period and the 54th Fast Response Cutter (FRC) delivered under the current program.The USCGC William Sparling will be the fifth of six FRCs to be homeported in Sector Boston, which is known as "The Birthplace of the Coast Guard." The sector is responsible for coastal safety, security, and environmental protection from the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border southward to Plymouth…

Bollinger Shipyards has delivered the USCGC John Patterson to the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West, Fla. This is the 179th vessel Bollinger has delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard over a 35-year period and the 53rd Fast Response Cutter (FRC) delivered under the current program.The USCGC John Patterson will be the fourth of six FRCs to be homeported in Sector Boston.Each FRC is named for an enlisted Coast Guard hero who distinguished themselves in the line of duty. The cutter’s namesake, John C. Patterson, was born in New Jersey in 1834. In 1870, after serving in the U.S.

Bollinger Shipyards announced it has delivered the USCGC Maurice Jester to the U.S. Coast Guard in Key West, Fla.. This is the 178th vessel Bollinger has delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard over a 35-year period and the 52nd Fast Response Cutter (FRC) delivered under the current program.Measuring in at 154-feet, FRCs have a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art C4ISR suite (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance), and stern launch and recovery ramp for a 26-foot…

Louisiana shipbuilding group Bollinger Shipyards has been humming along building Fast Response Cutters for the U.S. Coat Guard, and this week marked a milestone with its 50th FRC delivery, the USCGC William Chadwick, officially handed over on Thursday in Key West, Fla.“It’s incredibly meaningful that we could deliver the 50th FRC, the USCGC William Chadwick, on the Coast Guard’s 232nd birthday and that she’ll be homeported in Sector Boston, the Birthplace of the Coast Guard,” said Bollinger president and CEO. Ben Bordelon.

The Coast Guard and partner agencies located the missing barge, Dredge 200, Wednesday after it capsized and sank earlier this week in Broad Sound approximately two miles southeast of Nahant.The barge's location was confirmed by a contracted company using multi-beam sonar just north of the North Channel, the major shipping lane into Boston Harbor, in approximately 100-feet of water.Close coordination with the Boston Harbor Pilots was crucial to ensure maritime commerce impacts…

The Coast Guard is warning mariners to use caution and avoid the North and South Boston Main Channels after a barge carrying construction equipment capsized and possibly sank Sunday night approximately two miles southeast of Nahant.The captain of tug boat Big Jake notified the Coast Guard at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Sunday that two of five barges they were towing had broken free and were adrift. Crew members from Coast Guard Station Point Allerton and Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo responded to the scene along with the tug boats Smith Predator, Justice, and Kendall J. Hebert.While Big Jake was being escorted to Hull two more barges broke free bringing the total number of adrift barges to four.The three tug boats each located a barge and brought them to safe havens.

The Coast Guard and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection responded to a dielectric oil leak Friday in the Mystic River near the Alford St. bridge. The source is believed to be a small, slow leak from a cable under the river. Initially, Mass DEP and a pollution response team from Coast Guard Sector Boston discovered a notable rainbow sheen during a routine patrol of the river. Boom was deployed around the sheen, and later, an investigation determined the probable source was a cable encased in a metal pipeline which runs under the river. The exact location of the leak along the pipe has not yet been identified. Both agencies…

A helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod hoisted a man Saturday from the fishing boat Golden Girl while 25 miles southeast of Cape Ann. The captain of Golden Girl contacted Coast Guard Sector Boston watchstanders Saturday morning and reported a crewman aboard severely injured his hand and needed medical attention. The aircrew launched and arrived on scene at about 12:20 p.m. to medevac the man. After a successful hoist, the man was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital. Helicopter pilot Lt. Kyle Bertoluzzi said despite a low ceiling at takeoff, the skies cleared about halfway over Cape Cod Bay. He said the quick action of Golden's Girl's crew…

A U.S. Coast Guard crew medevaced a 47-year-old fisherman suffering from chest pains off the coast of Gloucester, Mass. Watchstanders at Sector Boston’s command center received the report at approximately 11:40 a.m. Wednesday from a crew member aboard the commercial fishing vessel, First Impression II, homeported in Sorrento, Maine, that another crew member was suffering from chest pains. A 29-foot response boat from Station Gloucester arrived on scene first at 11:59 a.m. A 47…

The Coast Guard rescued a father and son Saturday after their sailboat grounded near Sarah Island in Hingham Harbor. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Boston’s command center were alerted to the distress at about 5 p.m. after the pair used a cell phone to call for help. They explained their recently purchased sailboat grounded while trying to take it across the harbor. They were wearing life jackets but had no radio, no boating safety equipment, and no boating experience. A 29-foot response boat crew from Coast Guard Station Point Allerton, in Hull, quickly arrived on scene and assessed the situation. They determined the boat was too hard aground, transferred the men to the Coast Guard boat, and took them to shore with no reported injuries.

Emergency personnel are responding to a 28-foot lobster boat ablaze near Ipswich, Mass., Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. The lobster boat’s operator hailed Coast Guard watchstanders at about 9:30 a.m. stating his boat Dawn Breaker was on fire and he was abandoning ship after attempting to put out the fire with a portable fire extinguisher. The man donned his immersion suit, gave his exact location from his portable VHF radio and jumped from the burning boat into the water, taking with him his personal locator beacon. He was picked up by a nearby vessel in less than 15 minutes. U.S.

A fishing crew is back on land today after a fouled anchor line stranded them about 115 miles east of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Saturday. Initially, the four-person crew aboard the 61-foot fishing vessel Angela Michelle contacted the Sector Boston Command Center when their line became wrapped in the ship's rudder and propeller. Rescue crews from the Coast Guard Cutter Legare, a 270-foot Medium Endurance Cutter from Portsmouth, Virginia, arrived on scene and took the vessel in tow toward Gloucester, Massachusetts. They were met Sunday at about 9 a.m by a 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew from Station Gloucester who relieved tow and took the Angela Michelle into port. They arrived safely at the pier in Gloucester at about 1 p.m.

Coast Guard search and rescue crews from Station Gloucester, Air Station Cape Cod and the Coast Guard Cutter Ocracoke rescued nine crewmembers from the Canadian tall ship Liana's Ransom 58 miles east of Gloucester, Monday. Watchstanders at the Sector Boston Command Center received notification at 12:35 a.m. that the vessel's engines were disabled and its sails were wrapped around the mast. As the weather deteriorated, and seas reached nearly 10 feet, Sector Boston launched two 47-foot motor lifeboat crews from Station Gloucester to tow the vessel back to Gloucester. Once on scene, the boat crews connected the tow, but the rough sea conditions caused the tow line to break.

A crewman was medically evacuated from a fishing boat by U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue crews 110 miles east of Cape Cod, Friday. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Boston Command Center received an urgent call from the fishing vessel Capt Joe stating that a 62-year-old crew member aboard was suffering from severe abdominal pain. Considering the potential severity of the man's condition and the distance from land, Sector Boston conferred with the 1st District Command Center who initiated the medevac. Air Station Cape Cod was directed to launch two air crews, one aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to conduct the hoist, another aboard an HC-144A Ocean Sentry aircraft to provide communication and support coverage.

The Captain of the Port (COTP) Boston is establishing a temporary waterside security zone at the John Joseph Moakley Court House, Boston MA for the court proceedings of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The security zone will be effective and enforced starting on January 5, 2015 and will continue until the trial is complete, and if necessary, during the sentencing phase. This security zone encompasses all U.S. navigable waters, from surface to bottom, within 500 yards of the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse (Moakley Courthouse) in Boston, MA. However, the COTP hereby grants vessels permission to enter…

Plans to commence a $1.1 million project to repair and renovate structures at Boston Light in order to honor the 300-year service and iconic value of Boston Light to the Coast Guard’s maritime heritage have been announced. The project, outlined during a public presentation by lighthouse keeper Sally Snowman, is intended to preserve the structural integrity of the lighthouse tower and surrounding buildings and assists in preparing for the light station’s upcoming tricentennial celebrations in 2016. The ongoing refurbishment plan includes an underground storage tank remediation, a new exterior coating to the lighthouse, new cedar roofs on all structures, new windows in the lighthouse keeper’s quarters, and painting of all structures.

A U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Boston pollution response crew is responding to an oil spill from the USNS Fisher, drydocked at the Boston Ship Repair facility. The spill, estimated at approximately 11,000 gallons, is self-contained in drydock and there is currently no oil in the water. At approximately 9 p.m., Wednesday, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Boston received a report of an oil spill in the vicinity of Drydock Avenue, in Boston. Responders include a Coast Guard Sector Boston facility and pollution response team, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the Boston Fire Department. Response teams placed 600 feet of double boom around the drydock to ensure no oil enters the water and six commercial vacuum trucks were deployed to clean up the spill.

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) crews are assisting a disabled passenger vessel approximately 13 miles east of Nahant, Massachusetts, Monday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Boston received notification at approximately 4:30 p.m., that the 83-foot passenger vessel Cetacea had a line entangled in its propeller and was disabled with 163 people aboard. The Coast Guard Cutter Tybee, Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba, and a Coast Guard Station Gloucester, Massachusetts, small boat crew have responded and are on scene. The Escanaba is providing medical personnel to evaluate the passengers and crew for medical concerns and assist if necessary. Boston Harbor Cruises has a vessel with divers scheduled to attempt to clear the line from the propeller Tuesday morning.

Coast Guard rescue crews assisted the crew and passengers aboard the Provincetown IV Ferry, which was disabled near Scituate, Massachusetts, Wednesday. Watchstanders at the Sector Boston Command Center received notification at 4:06 p.m. that the ferry had suffered an engine failure and was unable to make way. A Station Point Allerton 47-foot motor lifeboat crew and the Coast Guard Cutter Flyingfish rushed to the scene to provide a safety zone and monitor, while another ferry arrived on scene to also assist. The Provincetown IV crew eventually repaired the engine and were underway, while the Flyingfish and Station Point Allerton crews escorted them to port. The ferry docked safely in Boston at about 7:40 p.m.

A Coast Guard crew from Station Point Allerton, Massachusetts, assisted a disabled clam boat 11 miles northwest of Provincetown, Massachusetts, Friday. At about 8:30 p.m., Thursday, the four-person crew aboard the 40-foot Angel Fisher notified Coast Guard Sector Boston that their boat lost steering. Because of the deteriorating weather, with 5-foot seas and 16-knot winds, the Angel Fisher crew put on their immersion suits. On scene, air temperature was 37 degrees and water temperature was 49 degrees. Station Point Allerton launched a 47-foot Motor Life Boat crew who arrived on scene at about midnight, took the Angel Fisher in tow, and made way to Plymouth, Massachusetts. They arrived safely at the pier at about 5:45 a.m., Friday. There were no medical concerns reported.

Maritime security and law enforcement experts are gathering in Boston this week to better understand maritime domain awareness and the challenges of port, waterway and coastal security, environmental protection, safety and law enforcement. One big lesson learned is that everything is just a little more challenging on the water. A number of law enforcement agencies from the New England area are attending and participating that have specific duties and functions associated with the maritime environment…

Coast Guard crews assisted a disabled fishing vessel 35 miles east of Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Thursday. At about 4 p.m., Wednesday, the three person crew of the fishing vessel Kristin and Michael notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Boston that their vessel was experiencing engine problems and they had become disabled. Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba was diverted to the scene and took the Kristen and Michael in tow. The crew of the Escanaba transferred the tow to a Coast Guard Station Gloucester crew, who then safely moored the Kristen and Michael at their homeport in Gloucester Harbor at about 9:30 a.m. There were no medical concerns on board.