Uscg Station News

A tug and barge ran aground Thursday night near Deerfield Beach, Fla., while transporting munitions from Port Canaveral to a U.S. Naval facility in the Bahamas.The U.S.-flagged tug Sea Eagle had four people on board when it began taking on water and went aground at 8:45 p.m. on Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said. No injuries or pollution have been reported, and both the tug and barge are said to be in stable condition.Three of the crew members were rescued from the attached barge by Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (CBP AMO) rescue crews.

U.S. Crewmembers of U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Station Montauk held a change of command and retirement ceremony in Montauk, N.Y., Thursday. Capt. Edward J. Cubanski, commander, Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound, presided over the ceremony to transfer command of Station Montauk from Senior Chief Petty Officer Jason Walter to Senior Chief Petty Officer Eric Best. Best comes to Montauk after recently serving as the executive petty officer of Station Gulfport, Miss. Walter retired after serving 20 years in the USCG.

The crew of U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Station Marblehead, Ohio, officially accepted delivery Thursday of the station’s second 45-foot response boat, doubling the rescue capability of Ohio-based Coast Guard station, the USCG said. The response boat, uilt by Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wis., will increase the ability of Station Marblehead’s crew to respond to search-and-rescue cases by augmenting its current complement of one 45-foot response boat, two 25-foot response boats, one 20-foot airboat and one inflatable rescue craft.

Three boaters whose vessel was taking on water 25 miles northeast of Ponce de Leon Inlet, Fla., Wednesday, arrived safely at Coast Guard Station Ponce De Leon Inlet at 4:39 p.m. Wednesday. Crewmembers assigned to Station Ponce de Leon Inlet came to the aid of the three men, who reported a crack in the hull of their 23-foot vessel, Mo Money, Wednesday morning. The men made a temporary repair, using a life jacket to patch the hole, but the flooding worsened as the vessel was transiting to shore so the Coast Guardsman and the one boater who remained on the Mo Money were transferred to the Coast Guard vessel. A second Coast Guard boatcrew from Station Ponce De Leon Inlet arrived on scene, passed over another de-watering pump, and towed the Mo Money to the Coast Guard Station.

Jordan Hanssen, recently rescued OAR Northwest transatlantic rower, sponsored by the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) made great efforts to visit his rescuers at two USCG stations for Military Appreciation Month last week. Both the Clearwater and Miami Coast Guard Air Stations involved in the early April rescue received a gratitude visit from Jordan, who also presented them with a thank you plaque. But what really resonated with the Miami and Clearwater rescue crews were the homemade cookies sent to them by Jordan’s mother, which also included a touching letter expressing her gratitude.

On Sunday, December 17, 2000 a raging storm was brewing off the coast of Virginia. Record-breaking waves were measuring anywhere from 30-40 ft. and the wind was gusting at about 70 knots. In the middle of the Atlantic, (220 miles off the coast of Norfolk, Va. to be exact), a 600 ft. (182.8 m), 21,000-ton cruise ship was in trouble, its crewmembers ready to abandon ship into the cold ocean. With only seconds to decide the fate of his vessel, the captain of the Sea Breeze I, placed a mayday call via the vessel's Inmarsat Standard-C distress feature, indicating that the now-defunct Premier Cruise Lines' vessel might sink. By Regina P. The dramatic rescue of SeaBreeze's 34 crewmembers began on that Sunday morning, when Eileen Joyce received an alert at COMSAT Mobile's Southbury, Conn.

SAFE Boats International won a contract from the USCG Office of Boat Forces in Washington, DC to build two self-righting 42-ft. Archangel Class vessels. Designated by the USCG and the Department of Homeland Security as the Special Purpose Craft – Near Shore Lifeboat (SPC-NLB), the NLB is 100 percent designed and manufactured in the US by SBI at the Port Orchard, Wash., factory. The USCG plans to operate the NLB in varying sea and weather conditions along the entire coast of the U.S. and use it as a fast response and utility boat. The hull design will allow the NLB to operate in shallow water areas and transit surf zones through breaking seas in excess of 15-ft.

Two employees of the COMSAT Mobile Communications (CMC) Land Earth Station in Southbury, Conn., were recognized recently by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) for coordinating life-saving satellite communications for the Coast Guard, the maritime vessel Ocean Wolf and four rescue ships. The incident began around 6:30 p.m. EST on Monday, October 30, 2000, when the (USCG) Station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contacted Southbury requesting assistance in communicating with Ocean Wolf, which had suffered an explosion in the engine room and was taking on water. Unknown at the time was the extent of damage and danger to the vessel — it was adrift and Tropical Storm Joyce was bearing down on its location.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Park Service issued a Notice stating that the Coast Guard plans to close Station (Small) Rockaway on Jamaica Bay, Long Island, New York and consolidate operations at its Staten Island facility. The Rockaway station would be incorporated into the Gateway National Recreation Area. A public meeting will be held in Rockaway on May 27, 2003 to present information on the proposal.

USCGC Point Huron, an 82-ft. patrol boat with more than 32 years service in Hampton Roads was decommissioned during a ceremony at USCG Station Little Creek, Va. Point Huron was placed in service Feb. 17, 1967, and arrived at Station Little Creek May 3, 1967. The cutter's primary missions included search and rescue, drug interdiction, fisheries, marine environmental protection, recreational and commercial vessel safety, maintaining security zones, aiding in coastal defense and public affairs. Point Huron's normal operating area included the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and the Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to South Carolina. In August 1999, Point Huron will be replaced by USCGC Albacore, an 87-ft. coastal patrol boat.

USCGC Point Huron, an 82-ft. patrol boat with more than 32 years service in Hampton Roads was decommissioned during a ceremony at USCG Station Little Creek, Va. Point Huron was placed in service Feb. 17, 1967, and arrived at Station Little Creek May 3, 1967. The cutter's primary missions included search and rescue, drug interdiction, fisheries, marine environmental protection, recreational and commercial vessel safety, maintaining security zones, aiding in coastal defense and public affairs. Point Huron's normal operating area included the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and the Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to South Carolina. In August 1999, Point Huron will be replaced by USCGC Albacore, an 87-ft. coastal patrol boat.

USCG Station Shinnecock, in Hampton Bays, N.Y., received a new state-of-the-art 47 ft. motor lifeboat (MLB), which will replace the 44-ft. MLB as part of the USCG's Office of Shore Activities MLB Replacement Project. Built by Textron Marine & Land Systems 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. MLB, the 47-ft. MLB will re-right itself within eight seconds in the event of a capsizing. The vessel is expected to perform the USCG missions of search and rescue, law enforcement and marine environmental protection for the next 25 years.

Law enforcement officers from USCGC Mustang terminated an F/V's voyage in Prince William Sound, after they discovered safety violations aboard the vessel. The USCG cited Sheelagh M's captain for several violations, including: Not having immersion suits for the four people aboard his vessel; not having the required number of fire extinguishers; and having a cracked life-ring buoy. Also, enforcement officers from USCG Station Ketchikan terminated vessel Cape Fairweather because of safety violations. Boaters in the downtown Ketchikan area called the USCG to report the vessel being operated negligently. Cape Fairweather is a 49-ft. purse seiner from Ketchikan. The Station Ketchikan boat crew located the F/V at a Ketchikan fuel dock and conducted boarding on it.

The cupola of the Ship Island Lighthouse was delivered and placed on the top of the lighthouse this morning by a helicopter from USCG Air Station New Orleans. The 900 lbs. copula was placed on the newly reconstructed lighthouse. The friends of the National Seashore Foundation, National Park Service and the Naval Seabee's are coordinating the project. Over the last six months, USCG Station Gulfport and Aids to Navigation Team Gulfport assisted in the delivery of supplies and personnel to the island for the project. There has been a lighthouse on Ship Island, Miss. since 1850's. At that time a predecessor of the modern Day Coast Guard, the U.S. Lighthouse Service, manned it. The lighthouse stood at the spot until is was accidentally burned down in 1971.