Richard Etheridge News

The Resolve Maritime Academy hosted a day of maritime safety training exercises and competitive activities as part of the 13th Damage Control Olympics. Teams consisting of sailors and damage control service men and women competed against one another in a series of hands-on training exercises and shipboard emergency response scenarios, including interaction with live fire, smoke filled environments and a flooded ship chamber. Resolve Maritime Academy said it developed the Damage…

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.

Approximately 55 Haitians are being rescued by Coast Guard and Turks and Caicos rescue crews, 100 meters off the South Dock in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, Wednesday. The Haitian migrants fell into the water Wednesday morning when their overloaded sail freighter capsized off the coast of Providenciales. The incident was reported from Turks and Caicos police to Coast Guard 7th District command center watchstanders Wednesday morning. Turks and Caicos officials reported they were on scene with the sail freighter when it capsized. Turks and Caicos police rescued 32 migrants and are continuing rescue efforts for any missing people in the water.

The US Coast Guard has commissioned its second Sentinel-class cutter during a traditional ceremony at Port Everglades. The 154-foot Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge is a Fast Response Cutter and will be able to deploy independently to conduct missions such as ports, waterways, and coastal security, fishery patrols, drug and illegal migrant law enforcement, search and rescue, and national defense operations along the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean. The Etheridge is capable of speeds of 28-plus knots…

Bollinger will honor the namesakes for the fourteen (14) USCG Fast Response Cutters (FRC) currently under contract, by hosting a fleet dedication in March 2012. Bollinger is looking for descendants and will host one or two representatives from each of the families. Bernard C. Robert J. Charles Walter David Jr. Bollinger has been able to contact the families of Bernie Webber, William Flores, and Richard Dixon, but need help locating the others.

Fast Response Cutter under construction. The Coast Guard awarded a $179.7 million contract option to Bollinger Shipyards of Lockport, La., September 22 for the production of four more Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters (FRCs). This option award brings the total number of FRCs under contract with Bollinger to twelve, with a current contract value of $597 million. The current FRC contract contains options for up to 34 cutters and is worth up to $1.5 billion if all options are exercised.

Vessel named for Coast Guard hero Richard Etheridge. The U.S. Coast Guard’s second, 154-foot Fast Response Cutter, the Richard Etheridge, was launched at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, La., Thursday, marking a significant milestone in the Coast Guard’s acquisition of the Sentinel- class patrol boats. While in the water, the cutter will undergo a series of tests and evaluations prior to its planned delivery early next year. The launch is one of many steps in the construction process…

1896- The crew of the Pea Island (North Carolina) Life-Saving Station, under the command of Keeper Richard Etheridge, performed one of their finest rescues when they saved the passengers and crew of the schooner E.S. Newman, after that ship ran aground during a hurricane. Pushed before the storm, the ship lost all sails and drifted almost 100 miles before it ran aground about two miles south of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station. Etheridge, a veteran of nearly twenty years, readied his crew. They hitched mules to the beach cart and hurried toward the vessel. Arriving on the scene, they found Captain S. A. Gardiner and eight others clinging to the wreckage.