Cutter Flyingfish News

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.

With the tragic deaths of three Massachusetts fishermen last weekend still resonating throughout the community, the Coast Guard continues to enforce boating safety regulations and, when necessary, force vessels to return to port to correct hazardous conditions. Two Bar Harbor, Maine-based fishing vessels, and one Scituate, Mass., based fishing vessel were boarded and consequently escorted back to their respective ports Tuesday after Coast Guard boarding teams discovered multiple safety violations. "We don't terminate fishing voyages because we're trying to make life difficult for the fishermen," said Ted Harrington, the First Coast Guard District's commercial fishing vessel safety specialist. "We terminate the voyages because we're concerned about the safety of the crew.

Coast Guard Cutter Flyingfish patrols up the Mystic River towards the Tobin Bridge on January 31, after suspicious packages were reported on the Longfellow and Boston University Bridges. A portion of the Charles River, from the Museum of Science to the Boston Harbor locks, was closed. Coast Guard Sector Boston also increased random patrols of ferry terminals and put law enforcement teams aboard some commuter ferries as a precautionary measure. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Etta Smith.