USCG Saves Sailor in Gloucester, Mass.

 

A crew from Coast Guard Station Gloucester, Mass, rescued a man after his sailboat capsized near the station in Gloucester Harbor Tuesday.

At 3:35 p.m., the station received a call from the harbor master that the 14-foot sailing vessel had overturned with one person aboard.

A crew aboard a 25-foot Response Boat launched and was on scene within minutes to find the man clinging to his boat.

He was not wearing a lifejacket.

The rescue crew maneuvered the boat closer, safely brought the man aboard, and transferred him to the pier.

A nearby mariner offered assistance by towing the half-submerged sailing vessel to shore.

"It was lucky we were close by,” said Fireman Joshua Brooks, the watchstander at Station Gloucester.

He said the sea is an unpredictable and unforgiving environment, especially when unprepared.

“We can't stress enough the importance of wearing lifejackets," he said.