Jones Beach News

U.S. Coast Guard Station Jones Beach crewmembers swam to shore after their rescue boat capsized in rough waters near East Rockaway Inlet, today. At approximately 2 a.m., Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound Command Center received an urgent distress call from the 76-foot scallop fishing vessel, Carolina Queen III, that had been taking on water with seven mariners aboard. Shortly after, the master reported the vessel was under control and had run aground near the East Rockaway Inlet. Coast Guard Station Jones Beach launched a 25-foot Response Boat Small to assist. The inlet water produced 10- to 12-foot waves and the vessel capsized. The five crewmembers aboard swam safely to shore. The Coast Guard vessel ran aground and is currently secured on the beach.

The US Coast Guard and the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) have temporarily suspended their review of the proposed Port Ambrose deep-water LNG import terminal. Liberty Natural Gas’s application to build the Port Ambrose deep-water port to receive LNG in the New York/New Jersey harbour has been delayed by the MARAD after it received more than 100,000 public comments about the project’s final environmental impact study. “The purpose of the suspension is to allow the U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration time to assess public comments and get them into the final Environmental Impact Study,” said Curtis Borland, legal counsel for the U.S.C.G.

US Coast Guard 1st District report that the 38-foot tugboat SEA LION capsized after taking on water approximately three miles south of Atlantic Beach, N.Y. and soon afterwards sank. The four mariners on board, one of whom was reportedly seriously injured, were rescued by two pilot boats. On the arrival of Coast Guard Station Jones Beach and Coast Guard Station Sandy Hook at the scene the survivors were medically examined and then transferred to an EMS team standing by at the Atlantic Beach bridge.

A proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal off the coasts of New York and New Jersey received a largely negative response at a public hearing in a suburban New York community still struggling to recover from the effects of Superstorm Sandy, reports Bloomberg. Several hundred people crowded into a hotel conference room in Long Beach, just steps from where work continues to replace a 2-mile-long boardwalk destroyed in last year's storm. Most of those who spoke said they opposed the proposal on environmental, security and economic concerns. Liberty Natural Gas has applied to federal authorities for permission to build the port in the ocean 17 miles off Jones Beach, N.Y., and 24 miles off Long Branch, N.J. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a similar proposal in 2011.

During an intense two-day period, Coast Guard diving teams recover downed light towers from East Rockaway Inlet and Jones Beach Inlet. Both lights were destroyed during Hurricane Sandy. The divers used the Dual-Frequency Identification Sonar Diver Held unit, a handheld sonar device connected to a pair of goggles that attach to the diver’s face mask. The unit produces a 3D image with a range of up to 100 feet underwater in zero visibility conditions. This unit increased efficiency and productivity by using less time and manpower while performing this search and recovery mission.

1965-A commercial DC-7 with 84 persons on board exploded in midair off Jones Beach, Long Island. Despite an extensive search by seven Coast Guard cutters, six Coast Guard aircraft, and a US Navy tug, no survivors were located. Only nine bodies and various pieces of debris were located and recovered. 1968-CG cutters Androscoggin, Minnetonka, and Winona, along with 82 footers and Navy assets, on patrol in Vietnamese waters, thwarted a Communist attempt to run four trawlers through the Market Time blockade off the coast of South Vietnam. The cutters sank three of the trawlers and forced the fourth to return to Hainan Island without landing her cargo.

1965-A commercial DC-7 with 84 persons on board exploded in midair off Jones Beach, Long Island. Despite an extensive search by seven Coast Guard cutters, six Coast Guard aircraft, and a US Navy tug, no survivors were located. Only nine bodies and various pieces of debris were located and recovered. 1968-CG cutters Androscoggin, Minnetonka, and Winona, along with 82 footers and Navy assets, on patrol in Vietnamese waters, thwarted a Communist attempt to run four trawlers through the Market Time blockade off the coast of South Vietnam. The cutters sank three of the trawlers and forced the fourth to return to Hainan Island without landing her cargo.

The Coast Guard is monitoring a tanker that ran aground in East Rockaway Inlet, NY about 450 yards from shore. Poling and Cutler Marine, the owners of the tanker, notified the Coast Guard Sector in New Haven, CT, that the tanker ran aground on sandy bottom and is carrying 672,000 gallons of #2 home heating oil. Coast Guard pollution response officers report that the ship suffered no apparent hull breach and no oil product entered the water. A unified Command consisting of New York DEC, Nassau County PD and FD, Hempstead Bay Constable, Coast Guard and Poling and Cutler, has been established to monitor the situation, develop plans to refloat the vessel and to develop as contingency plans in the case of a cargo release.

USCG Stations Jones Beach and Fire Island, in NY, have become the newest USCG Group Moriches units to receive the new 47-ft. Motor Lifeboat (MLB). The state-of-the-art 47-ft. MLB will be replacing the 44-ft. MLB as part of the USCG's Office of Shore Activities' Motor Lifeboat Replacement Project. The 47-ft. MLB is expected to perform the USCG missions of Search and Rescue, Law Enforcement, and Marine Environmental Protection for the next 25 years. The 47-ft. MLB is designed to be more comfortable, easier to operate, environmentally safer and more capable than the 44-ft. MLB. Built by Textron Marine & Land System (New Orleans) to USCG specifications, the 47-ft. MLB is capable of operating in 20-ft. breaking surf, 30-ft. open seas, and 50-knot sustained wind speed. Similar to the 44-ft.