Seventh District News

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sea Dog (WPB 87373) sustained damage during the crew’s inbound transit from sea to the St. Marys River, Monday, the Coast Guard (USCG) said.The damaged cutter moored in Fernandina Beach, Fla., with assistance from additional Coast Guard assets and a commercial towing vessel, the USCG said.There were no reported injuries, damage to other vessels or environmental impact, and navigation remains unaffected, the agency added, noting the incident is under…

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 U.S. Coast Guard announced Friday Rear Adm. Melissa Bert has been invested as judge advocate general and chief counsel of the Coast Guard. Bert is the service’s first woman to hold that office.Bert was most recently the director of Governmental and Public Affairs for the Coast Guard, where she was responsible for external engagement with Congress, the media and other inter-governmental entities.As judge advocate general and chief counsel, Bert will lead a group of legal professionals who are responsible for the delivery of all legal services in support of the Coast Guard's missions…

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…

Chemical tanker Nordic Wolverine rescued two sailors from a disabled 55-foot sailboat approximately 210 miles east of Costa de Mosquitos, Honduras on Thursday, February 22, 2018. U.S. Coast Guard rescue personnel at the Seventh District command center received a report from rescue authorities in Panama of the disabled sailboat and shared Amver surface picture information with them. The Amver participating Norwegian-flagged tanker was identified and agreed to divert and search for the sailboat. "We have passed through the distress position and have made radio call outs on channel 16 but have found nothing," reported the captain of the Nordic Wolverine. "We intend to continue on our voyage to Houston," the ship's captain added.

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.

Adm. Robert E. Kramek, former Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, has died October 20, 2016. Kramek served as the Coast Guard's 20th commandant from 1994 through 1998, during which time he significantly expanded the Coast Guard's global reach and influence as commandant, including directing active participation in the combined service/international anti-narcotic smuggling operations Frontier Shield and Gulf Shield, along with other law enforcement operations. He led the Coast…

At its first meeting of 2016, the St. Louis County Board reappointed its longest serving Commissioner, Steve Raukar, to the Duluth Seaway Port Authority Board for a third term. First appointed in 1998, Raukar currently serves as Port Authority president. “The Port Authority is a strategic link in domestic and global trade, fostering economic growth for all of northeastern Minnesota,” said Raukar. Raukar has represented the Seventh District on the St. Louis County Board since first being elected in 1988.

Bollinger Shipyards has delivered the newly built Fast Response Cutter (FRC) Winslow Griesser for the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) seventh district in Puerto Rico. The USCG took delivery on December 23, 2015 in Key West, Fla., and is scheduled to commission the vessel in Puerto Rico during March, 2016. The 154-foot patrol craft Winslow Griesser is the 16th vessel in the USCG’s Sentinel-class FRC program. To build the FRC, Bollinger used an in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Craig J. Wieschhorster took command of the medium-endurance Cutter Mohawk during a ceremony Thursday at Coast Guard Sector Key West. Coast Guard Atlantic Area chief of staff, Capt. Doug Fears presided over the change of command ceremony as Wieschhorster relieved Cmdr. Adam B. Morrison of the duties and responsibilities as 14th commanding officer of the Cutter Mohawk. “Although I leave the Cutter Mohawk with a heavy heart,” said Morrison, “I have trust in Cmdr. Morrison was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal recognizing his service and performance of duty. During Morrison’s successful two-year command, Cutter Mohawk’s crew achieved a number of operational successes.

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 is conducting a series of formal investigations after Tuesday’s collision involving a Coast Guard cutter and a fishing vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico. Three separate investigations have been initiated and will review different aspects of the collision between the 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Key Largo and a U.S. Virgin Island fishing vessel named Sea Shepherd. The incident happened at 6:38 a.m, just east of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. No one was injured, but the Sea Shepherd sank after the collision. A Marine Casualty Investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is an independent…

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) is conducting a series of formal investigations after Tuesday’s collision involving a Coast Guard cutter and a fishing vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico. Three separate investigations have been initiated and will review different aspects of the collision between the 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Key Largo and a U.S. Virgin Island fishing vessel named Sea Shepherd. The incident happened at 6:38 a.m, just east of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. No one was injured, but the Sea Shepherd sank after the collision. A Marine Casualty Investigation led by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB is an…

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.