Guard Seventh District News

The US Coast Guard presented public service awards to maritime partners for their actions during the Golden Ray capsizing and subsequent response during a ceremony at the Southeast Georgia Conference Center.The public service awards recognized each individual’s commendable actions that resulted in the preservation of life and mitigation of environmental hazards and economic impacts during the Golden Ray capsizing and grounding in St. Simon's Sound, Georgia, on Sept. 8, 2019.Rear Adm. Douglas Schofield, commander, Coast Guard Seventh District, and U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 44-year-old man from a motor vessel 250 miles northeast of Nassau, Bahamas, Saturday.The man was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital to receive a higher level of care. Coast Guard Seventh District watchstanders received a medevac request from the motor vessel Skyfall stating one of their crewmembers was reportedly suffering from severe stomach pain. Watchstanders instructed the vessel to navigate to 250 miles northeast of Nassau and consulted with the duty flight surgeon…

Capt. Eric A. Helgen relieved Capt. Benjamin D. Berg as commander, Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) aboard Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Thursday, June 16.As the commander of the most extensive Coast Guard base outside of the United States, Berg served as the senior U.S. Coast Guard representative in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility, providing support to maritime security operations in the north, central, and south Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned the 48th Sentinel-class fast response cutter (FRC) Pablo Valent (WPC 1148) into service at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, Fla., Wednesday.Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Seventh District, presided over the ceremony. Cecilia Guillot, Valent’s great-niece, is the ship's sponsor.The cutter’s namesake Pablo Valent was originally from Corpus Christi, Texas, and joined the United States Life-Saving Service in 1912.

An ailing crew member was medevaced from a U.S.-flagged tug Patriarch on Tuesday, approximately 207 miles of east Turks and Caicos, and 287 miles north of Puerto Rico, the U.S Coast Guard said.The Crowley-owned Patriarch was en route from Jacksonville, Fla. to San Juan, Puerto Rico when the vessel's master contacted Coast Guard Seventh District command to request a medevac for a 59-year-old man on board who was suffering from medical complications and needed higher level medical…

The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education and welfare of all Coast Guard members and their families, recently recognized Chairman and CEO Tom Crowley Jr. and Crowley Maritime Corporation for more than 30 years of support at its 25th Tribute to the Coast Guard Seventh District event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The event, originally scheduled for late January but postponed due to the partial government shutdown, was held April 18. The rescheduled date did nothing to dampen spirits…

Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. was sentenced to pay a $40 million penalty – the largest-ever for crimes involving deliberate vessel pollution – related to illegal dumping overboard of oil contaminated waste and falsification of official logs in order to conceal the discharges. The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida in Miami. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Patricia A.

Coast Guard rescued seven people Wednesday from a 180-foot motor vessel taking on water about 46 miles west of Great Inagua, Bahamas. At 5:20 a.m., Coast Guard Seventh District Command Center watch standers received an alert from a locating device from the motor vessel Trois Rivieres near Great Inagua. Watch standers diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Confidence crew and directed the launch of a forward deployed Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew. The rescue crew arrived on scene at 7:19 a.m. to lower the rescue swimmer with a dewatering pump and generator to help the Trois Rivieres crew. The pump wasn’t able to keep up with the water intake and the crew abandoned ship.

The Coast Guard Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to the education and welfare of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced today that its annual Tribute to the United States Coast Guard Seventh District will take place on November 13 at the Marriott Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida. During the event, emceed by Efrem “Skip” Zimbalist III, chairman and CEO of Active Interest Media, Inc., the Coast Guard Foundation will pay tribute to former Commandant of the Coast Guard and former Seventh District Commander, retired Admiral Thad Allen.

The Coast Guard hoisted a man to safety off a cruise ship 250 miles southwest of Key West, Florida, Thursday. Coast Guard Seventh District command center watchstanders were notified of a 51-year old man experiencing severe chest pain while aboard the cruise ship Carnival Ecstasy. After consulting a Coast Guard flight surgeon, a medevac was recommended. Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater launched an MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew who arrived on scene, hoisted the man, and safely transported him to Lower Keys Medical Center, Key West, in stable condition.

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.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said in a news release that 41 Cuban migrants were rescued by the Carnival Ecstasy cruise ship in the Florida Straits Tuesday evening. Crewmembers aboard the 855-foot Carnival Ecstasy located the vessel at 7 p.m. Tuesday, the Coast Guard said, adding the vessel was “grossly overloaded,” unseaworthy, was taking on water and did not have any navigation or life saving equipment on board. The migrants were pulled to safety by Ecstasy crewmembers and were later transferred to a Coast Guard cutter patrolling in the area.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said a fourth person has been confirmed dead following a capsizing 75 miles northeast of West Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Seventh District command center received a report Thursday from the Royal Netherlands Navy Zeeland of a capsized 24-foot center console vessel with seven suspected migrants atop of the hull. The Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge and an HC-130, from Air Station Clearwater, Fla., were diverted to the scene.

U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) search-and-rescue crews aboard Coast Guard Cutter Etheridge and an HC-130 aircrew are searching for two people 75 miles northeast of West Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Seventh District command center received a report from the Royal Netherlands Navy Zeeland at noon of a capsized 24-foot center console vessel with seven suspected migrants atop of the hull. The Coast Guard Cutter Etheridge and an HC-130 were diverted to the scene.

A U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) HC-130 Hercules aircrew is searching for a man who reportedly fell overboard from the Celebrity Constellation cruise ship in the vicinity of the Yucatan Channel in the Caribbean Sea, Wednesday. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Seventh District command center received a report shortly after 10:30 a.m. from Celebrity Constellation that Bagiada, one of the ship's crewmembers, fell overboard at 2:27 a.m. during a cruise in the Caribbean Sea. Missing is Inyoman Bagiada, 45, from Indonesia. The aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., is searching along with the Coast Guard Cutter Charles David Jr., a 154-foot fast response cutter homeported in Key West, Fla. uscgnews.com

The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education and welfare of Coast Guard members and their families, will hold its 20th annual tribute to the United States Coast Guard Seventh District on November 8th, 2013, at the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida. During the event, the Coast Guard Foundation will provide a special honor to the members of a Clearwater-based helicopter crew for the heroism, dedication and aviation professionalism they displayed on January 18, 2013 while saving the lives of seven mariners from the 170-foot research vessel Seaprobe, 230 nautical miles west of Clearwater, Florida.

St. Petersburg Event To Honor New Coast Guard Cutter And The Memory of William Flores. The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education, welfare and morale of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced today its 19th Annual Tribute to the United States Coast Guard’s Seventh District will take place on Friday, November 2, 2012. At this year’s event, the Foundation has partnered with the Commissioning Committee for the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter William Flores.

Personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement completed a review of the mobile offshore drilling unit Scarabeo 9, Monday, off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. The review followed an invitation from the vessel’s operator, Repsol. While aboard the Scarabeo 9, personnel reviewed vessel construction, drilling equipment, and safety systems – including lifesaving and firefighting equipment, emergency generators, dynamic positioning systems, machinery spaces, and the blowout preventer – in anticipation of its scheduled drilling operations in Cuba’s exclusive economic zone in the coming months. The review is consistent with U.S. efforts to minimize the possibility of a major oil spill, which would hurt U.S.

The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education, welfare and morale of all Coast Guard members and their families, announced that its 17th Annual Tribute to the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Seventh District will take place on Monday, November 1, 2010. The event will honor the work of the men and women of the Coast Guard’s Seventh District who deployed to Haiti and aided in the relief efforts associated with the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the country in January of this year. In addition to honoring these individuals and celebrating the service of all our guardians who enforce maritime law…

Charleston’s newest Coast Guard Cutter, Oak, a 225-ft Juniper Class seagoing buoy tender was launched Saturday in Marinette, Wis. Although the launching ceremony is a milestone in the birth of Oak, the cutter still has to undergo extensive work before Oak heads to its new homeport of Charleston, S.C. sometime in late fall of 2002. U.S. Representative Henry Brown of South Carolina is scheduled to be the keynote speaker for the launch ceremony. Representative Brown’s wife, Billye Brown, the ship’s sponsor, and Coast Guard Seventh District Commander Rear Adm. Jay Carmichael are also scheduled to attend the launch ceremony. Oak will replace the ageing Coast Guard Cutter Madrona, which has been in service since 1943.

Puerto Rican-based Shipping Company Sentenced to Pay $700,000 Penalty for Intentional Cover-Up of Oil Pollution. WASHINGTON – Epps Shipping Company, a Liberian corporation doing business out of Carolina, Puerto Rico, was sentenced in federal court for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and making false statements to U.S. Coast Guard inspectors, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno and United States Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez. The company was sentenced to pay a $700,000 criminal penalty to include a $100,000 payment towards community service projects to rehabilitate and protect coral reefs in Guanica Bay, Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended normal operations of eight converted 123-foot patrol boats assigned to Coast Guard Sector Key West, Fla., due to additional structural damage recently discovered in the hulls. “I suspended the operation of all eight 123-foot cutters to ensure the continued safety of our crews as we assess additional structural damage recently discovered aboard this class of cutter,” said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard. “The reliable, safe operation of our cutters and aircraft is paramount to our effective mission execution, including vital search and rescue and migrant interdiction missions in the area.

The Coast Guard Cutter Bear is scheduled to return to ISC Portsmouth today following a 66-day law enforcement patrol in the Caribbean Sea. The highlight of the patrol came when the crew of the Bear detected a vessel on radar December 19 and flew a deployed MH-68 Sting Ray helicopter based out of Jacksonville, Fla., to identify the large fishing vessel. With permission of the flag state coordinated by the Coast Guard's Seventh District Command Center in Miami, a boarding team from the Bear conducted an extensive, 16-hour boarding. Boarding team members discovered the contraband hidden below concrete in the fish hold. With the flag state's authorization…