Coast Guard Command Center News

A passenger vessel lost steering and went a drift in a highly trafficked area near Galveston, Texas, on Saturday.The U.S. Coast Guard said its watchstanders at Sector Houston-Galveston received a call on VHF-FM channel 16 at about 11 a.m. from the captain of the Baywatch Too stating the dolphin sightseeing vessel had lost steering and was drifting toward a dredge pipe near Seawolf Park with 33 people on board.The Coast Guard issued an urgent marine information broadcast and directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station Galveston 45-foot Response Boat–Medium (RB–M) crew.

A containership rescued a boater clinging to the hull of his capsized vessel approximately 86 miles east of Port Canaveral, Fla., Sunday.Stuart Bee departed Cape Marina in Port Canaveral on Friday and was reported missing Saturday after he did not return from his day trip. A marina member contacted watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville at 11:40 a.m., Saturday stating that 62-year-old Bee typically does not stay out overnight on his 32-foot boat Stingray.Watchstanders…

The U.S. Coast Guard and Air National Guard completed a four-day, long-range, joint rescue mission to medevac a critically injured 39-year-old man aboard a cargo ship located approximately 1,300 miles west of San Francisco, Friday.The Hong-Kong-flagged bulk carrier Ocean Applaud contacted 11th Coast Guard District command center watchstanders Monday regarding a crewmember who reportedly fell 30 feet while working on the vessel.Due to the limited offshore range of Coast Guard aircraft…

Coast Guard Sector Northern New England officially opened a new 24-hour command center Wednesday in South Portland, Maine.Sen. Susan Collins, Atlantic Area Commander Vice Adm. Scott Buschman, and First District Commander Rear Adm. Andrew Tiongson were all on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The command center is the hub for all Coast Guard operations across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and parts of New York. Located at Coast Guard Base South Portland, the command center's exterior remained the same, but the interior is completely new.

The two surviving crewmembers of the bulk-carrier Tamar explosion were medevaced at approximately 4:30 a.m., by a Portuguese aircrew along with three New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing pararescuers to continue medical care. The aircrew arrived in Terceira Island, Azores at about 7 a.m. A Portuguese Air Force jet is scheduled to be waiting along with a medical team to bring the injured to Lisbon, Portugal for medical treatment. The captain of the Marshall Islands-flagged 623-foot bulk carrier Tamar contacted watchstanders at the Coast Guard command center reporting an explosion in the ship’s forward storeroom. New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing pararescuers arrived on board the Tamar at about 9:30 p.m.…

At approximately 7:45 p.m., Monday, the captain of the bulk carrier Tamar reported that a second crewmember was killed from an onboard explosion. The New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing pararescuers arrived on board the Tamar at about 9:30 p.m., after deploying from their HC-130 with two small boats and advanced life-saving equipment. They are staying with the ship until higher medical authority can take over care of the injured crew. The Portuguese Coast Guard are scheduled to launch a helicopter and pick up the injured crew members and bring them to Ponta Delgada. They are expected to be within range of the Azores, Portugal within 24 hours.

An explosion aboard Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Tamar has killed one crewmember and left three others severely injured roughly 1,300 miles offshore Cape Cod, Mass. At approximately 7 a.m., Tamar’s captain contacted watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard command center reporting an explosion in the ship’s forward storeroom killed one crewmember and caused three others to suffer massive burns and are in need of immediate medical attention. The U.S. Coast Guard is coordinating with the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing and the Canadian and Portuguese Coast Guards to provide a medical emergency response. The New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing launched an HC-130 aircrew with six pararescuers and one combat rescue officer.

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.

The Coast Guard is reminding boaters and paddlers heading out on the water this holiday season to keep safety in mind. Weather forecasts are slated to bring unseasonably warm air, but the water can be dangerously cold. The current water temperature in Boston Harbor is 46 degrees Fahrenheit, but last winter during the coldest month it averaged 36 degrees Fahrenheit. “Excited boaters and paddlers in their new canoes and kayaks will understandably want to take advantage of the mild weather,” said Walt Taylor, the 1st Coast Guard District’s recreational boating safety specialist. The ocean and inland waterways in New England pose unique dangers in the wintertime. “When a person falls in cold water, their body responds to initial shock with an instantaneous gasp for air," said Taylor.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man and woman after their 17-foot skiff ran aground near Sitka, Alaska Saturday. Coast Guard command center personnel at Sector Juneau received a 911 call relayed by the Sitka Fire Department concerning the skiff and its occupants after it grounded near Kanga Bay 10 miles south of Sitka Saturday night. It was reported that both passengers were ejected from the skiff when it struck the shore and the male passenger had suffered injuries to his head and face. The skiff then drifted away from the couple before they could secure it.

A 15-mile section of the Ohio River was reopened for limited traffic on Wednesday as clean-up of a 5,000-gallon fuel oil spill continued, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday. The Coast Guard closed a stretch of the river between Cincinnati, Ohio and Dayton, Kentucky on Tuesday after a spill during a "routine transfer of fuel oil" at a 60-year-old power plant owned by Duke Energy, 20 miles east of Cincinnati. "The river is open. Vessels can transit as long as they call the Coast Guard command center to get permission first," said Lt. Kate Cameron of the U.S. Coast Guard. Restrictions on traffic will continue as the clean-up progresses, the Coast Guard said, without giving a timeline.

U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue crews worked throughout the night to find a missing charter boat with four people aboard as far as 70 miles off Galveston. A Coast Guard HC-144 aircrew located them about 40 miles offshore as they started the last leg of their search Tuesday at 10:33 a.m. Logan Foster, operator of the 29-foot fishing charter Reel Deep, departed Galveston Yacht Basin with three other people toward Clay Pile Bank at 5:40 a.m., Monday. Susan Foster, Logan's step-mother, and her husband said they knew something was wrong Monday night.

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa rescued two men from a vessel taking on water approximately one mile southwest of Petersburg, Alaska, Tuesday. A smallboat crew from the Anacapa took the 24-foot pleasure craft Deborah K under tow and safely transported its passengers to the port in Petersburg. Coast Guard command center watchstanders at Sector Juneau received a call from passengers aboard the Deborah K reporting they had struck a rock and were taking on water near Wrangell Narrows. Watchstanders directed the crew of the Anacapa to respond and the crew of the Anacapa launched its smallboat crew to assist. "The men aboard the Debra K did the right thing by quickly contacting the Coast Guard," said Lt. Ryan Erickson, chief of incident management, Coast Guard Sector Juneau.

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and local agencies are responding to a plane crash near San Pablo Bay after two planes collided in mid-air above the Bay Sunday. At approximately 4 p.m., the Sector San Francisco Coast Guard command center received a call about a small Cessna and a WWII-era aircraft that had collided. The Coast Guard launched four rescue boat crews and one rescue helicopter crew and established a temporary safety zone in the water while the Federal Aviation Administration has established a temporary flight-restriction zone in the area. Debris has been located in the water, but there are no signs of the downed pilot at this time. The incident is under investigation. The USCG asked Mariners in the area to contact their nearest Coast Guard station if they find any debris in the water.

Coast Guard boarding teams from the Coast Guard cutter Naushon and Coast Guard Stations Ketchikan and Juneau terminated the voyages of two fishing vessel and intercepted an intoxicated boater in Southeast. A Coast Guard cutter Naushon boarding team conducted a random safety boarding aboard the 32-foot fishing vessel Tsunami, based out of Seattle, Saturday in Clarence Strait. During the boarding it was discovered that the vessel had the correct number of survival suits onboard but two of them were unserviceable. The crew of the Naushon terminated the vessel’s voyage for safety reasons and escorted them to Nichol’s Passage where the Naushon was relieved by the 47-foot motor lifeboat and crew from Coast Guard Station Ketchikan who escorted the Tsunami’s crew into Ketchikan.

Coast Guard personnel were on scene at an oil spill in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico that occurred late Sunday night when an estimated 7,000 barrels or 294,000 gallons of #6 grade fuel oil leaked from a 24 inch transfer pipe used to move product from the shore side facility to tanker ships. All but 50 gallons were contained in the facilities secondary containment area and around the clock operations continue to contain and remove the oil. The incident occurred when a transfer pipe burst 5,000 yards inland from shore at the Commonwealth Oil Refining Company CORCO facility in the port of Guayanilla. The oil was being transfer to the motor vessel Sorokaletie Pobedy, a Liberian flagged tank ship. The National Response center notified the Coast Guard Command Center of the spill Sunday at 11:30 p.m.

The Coast Guard in partnership with the Marine Exchange of Alaska has established an Automated Identification System (AIS) site in the Unimak pass to assist with maritime domain awareness. AIS is a shipboard broadcast system that acts like a transponder, operating in the VHF maritime band. The system allows a shipboard radar to display a mark for every significant ship within radio range. Each mark displays the corresponding ship's speed, heading, name, size, call sign, registration number, classification and other information. AIS has the same range-limiting factors of radio broadcasts however, the system's coverage area can be expanded by shore based repeaters. The system's range at sea is approximately 20 nautical miles.

Capt. Brian D. Kelley will assume command of Coast Guard Sector Baltimore on Friday at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore. Capt. Kelley will relieve Capt. Curtis A. Springer, who assumed command of Sector Baltimore in June 2003. Capt. Springer will now be Assistant Chief of the Office of Personnel Management in Arlington, Va. As commander of Sector Baltimore, Capt. Kelley will also be Captain of the Port, Officer in Charge of Marine Inspection, Federal On-Scene Coordinator, Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator, and Federal Maritime Security Coordinator for all Coast Guard operational missions in the Sector’s area of responsibility. That area covers the Upper Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, including the Potomac River and the National Capital Region.

Rescue aircrews from Kodiak and Sitka airlifted an injured crewman aboard a bulk carrier about 200 miles southwest of Sitka Monday afternoon. Jin Bao Lin, 47, a Chinese citizen, suffered from multiple stab wounds while working aboard the bulk carrier Princess Aliel. The master of the vessel contacted the Coast Guard Command Center in Juneau at about 12:45 p.m. requesting medical assistance for the injured crewman. Apparently, Jin suffered four stab wounds during a fight with another crewmember. A Coast Guard flight surgeon was consulted and recommended the airlift. A Jayhawk helicopter and crew were diverted from a training mission to assist Jin.

The Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Anchorage continues to monitor the Genei Maru No. 7, which was reported aground in Kazakof Bay on Afognak Island Sunday. KK Yamatsu Anichi Shoten, the Japanese company that owns the Genei Maru No. 7, will take responsibility for the clean-up and salvage of the vessel. The Coast Guard has contracted with Crowley Marine in Seward to lighten the vessel by removing the fuel and oils onboard. Crowley mobilized their tug and barge at 6 a.m. this morning. They are expected to arrive on scene Wednesday. The Coast Guard estimates the vessel has 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard as well as an unknown amount of miscellaneous oils. The 97-ft. vessel, adrift since May, may have an unstable refrigerant system.

The Coast Guard continues to monitor a barge that ran aground and spilled approximately 42,000 to 63,000 gallons of liquid asphalt, five miles south of Richmond, Va., at 4:30 a.m. Monday. The Piney Point was being pushed up river, toward Richmond, by the tug Barbary Coast when it ran aground in the vicinity of Meade Landing State Park. The barge was transporting approximately 930,000 gallons of asphalt when it ran aground. The other seven tanks on board were reportedly not damaged, and workers from the scene report the barge is not leaking. Divers assessed damage to the hull today, and a plan is being developed for patching the hole.

On Saturday night the Coast Guard Command Center in Memphis was notified by the towing vessel A. DEAN HEASLEY that one of the two barges they were towing had struck the Riverside Park Marina. Coast Guard investigators were dispatched to the scene of the accident. The marina sustained significant damage but no injuries were reported. The marina holds many houseboats and is home to approximately 60 people. Many of the boats were affected by the accident with one reported to be taking on water. The two tank barges, which were empty at the time of the accident, were being towed to the refinery in the port for a scheduled loading. West-Northwest winds of 15 mph were reported last night and may have been a factor in the casualty.