Rockaway Inlet News

The United States' largest dredging contractor Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation on Wednesday announced the receipt of $107 million in new contract awards along the U.S. East Coast.The awarded dredging work includes: Norfolk Harbor Navigation Improvements Project (Capital, Virginia, $56.8 million), Charleston Lower Harbor Maintenance Dredging Project (Maintenance, South Carolina, $15.4 million), Tampa Harbor Maintenance Dredging 45-Foot Project (Maintenance, Florida, $13 million)…

Houston-based dredging services provider Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation announced it has received several major dredging awards totaling $132.3 million.The awarded work includes:Coastal Storm Risk Management Rockaway Inlet Beach Fill Subcontract (Coastal Protection, New York, $37.2 million)South Atlantic Division Regional Harbor Dredging Project (Maintenance, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, $25.8 million)Avon Village Beach Nourishment and Buxton Renourishment Project (Coastal Protection…

Hybrid is not only here, it is growing, and with that growth it will soon reach far beyond coastal applications.For those who were around for the arrival of Y2K, you will remember the anticipation, preparation and perspiration as the maritime world waited for the failure of communications, navigation, security and machinery associated with the digital change of the clock. The forecasts, now historical urban legend, left the world without a digital catastrophe.We wait now for 2020 and the advent of the IMO maritime emissions regulations.

Coast Guard and partner agency crews responded to a ferry aground with 27 people aboard near Rockaway Inlet, New York, Wednesday evening. The Flyer, an 80-foot New York City Ferry became stuck on a sandbar after departing from the Rockaway terminal at 5:15 p.m., en route to Wall Street’s Pier 11 at approximately 5:30 p.m. Boatcrews from Coast Guard Station New York, and Station Sandy Hook arrived on scene with New York City Fire Department (FDNY) and New York City Police Department (NYPD) marine units. Due to shallow water, Coast Guard crews were unable to safely approach the ferry. An FDNY crew evacuated 23 passengers and a crewmember safely and placed them aboard one of their rescue boats. All passengers were transferred to the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Brooklyn, New York.

A second powerful storm in as many weeks was bearing down on a string of battered Caribbean islands, with forecasters saying Maria would strengthen rapidly into a major hurricane as it ripped into the Leeward Islands on Monday night. Maria's strength was building as it approached the Lesser Antilles, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, estimating its winds near 90 miles per hour (145 kph). "Maria is expected to become a major hurricane as it moves through the Leeward Islands," the forecaster said, marked by "rapid strengthening" during the next 48 hours. Maria is approaching the eastern Caribbean less than two weeks after Irma hammered the region before overrunning Florida.

Short sea shipping is alive and well on America’s East Coast. In the United States, counties and states directly on the shoreline constitute less than 10 percent of the total land area (not including Alaska), but account for 39 percent of the total population. From 1970 to 2010, the population of these counties increased by almost 40 percent and are projected to increase by an additional 10 million people or 8 percent by 2020. Coastal areas are substantially more crowded than the U.S. as a whole, and population density in coastal areas will continue to increase in the future.

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.

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.

1883-At 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the sloop Madge Schults , capsized as she was passing in through Rockaway Inlet, about half a mile distant from the Rockaway Point Station (Third District). The man clung to the bottom of his craft and made signals for help. They were quickly seen by the lookout at the station and the life-saving crew went off in their boat. He was taken from the water and landed on Barren Island. 1944-The Coast Guard-manned frigate USS Rockford, in concert with the Navy minesweeper USS Ardent, attacked and sank the Japanese Navy submarine I-12 mid-way between Hawaii and California. There were no survivors. In sinking I-12, Ardent and Rockford unwittingly avenged the atrocity I-12 had perpetrated on 30 October 1944 when, after sinking the Liberty Ship John A.

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.