Station Menemsha News

The U.S. Coast Guard informs it is investigating the sinking of the fishing vessel Robert C that occurred near Martha's Vineyard, Mass., Monday. The sole person aboard fishing vessel Robert C radioed Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England's Command Center at 12:08 p.m Monday, stating the vessel was taking on water 1.5 miles northwest of Menemsha following a collision with another the fishing vessel, Pedlar, both home-ported in Fairhaven. Coast Guard Station Menemsha immediately issued a Urgent Marine Information Broadcast and launched a 47-foot Motor Life Boat. While the boat crew was in route, the fishing vessel Robert C sank. Fishing vessel Shearwater, home-ported in New Bedford Harbor, recovered the person in the water and delivered the person to Menemsha Harbor.

The U.S. Coast Guard held a ribbon cutting ceremony today at Coast Guard Station Menemsha to mark the opening of a new boathouse on Martha’s Vineyard in Chilmark, Massachusetts. The event unveils the new building after the old boathouse burned down on July 12, 2010. Attendees included U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, Coast Guard 1st District Commander Rear Adm. Linda Fagan, and Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England Commander Capt. John Kondratowicz. "The new boathouse has dramatically increased the readiness of Station Menemsha,” said Senior Chief Robert Riemer, the Station’s officer in charge. “The facility’s strategic design enables crews to effectively and efficiently conduct necessary boat maintenance.

Coast Guard pollution responders, and the Fairhaven Harbormaster responded to a report of a large oil sheen in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts Friday morning. At 2:00 p.m. Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England was notified by a local, experienced mariner of a possible pollution sheen in Buzzard's Bay. Response crews with a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod, a 29-foot response boat from Station Woods Hole, and a 45-foot response boat medium from Station Menemsha responded along with Coast Guard personnel from Marine Safety Detachment New Bedford and the Fairhaven Harbormaster. After Coast Guard assets arrived on-scene, they did not find any pollution; rather they discovered a large area of jellyfish.

The U.S. Coast Guard responded to reports of a disabled tug 18 miles east of Block Island, Rhode Island, Sunday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, were notified at approximately 3:30 p.m., Sunday, of an engine fire aboard the 126-foot tug Viking. The vessel’s on board fixed fire-fighting system was able to extinguish the fire, leaving the vessel disabled with 10 people aboard. The owner of the tug dispatched two relief tugs to the scene. The Viking was able to restore their engines and are transiting to Buzzards Bay under escort by the tug Sebine. None of the ten people aboard the tug were injured, and no pollution was released as a result of the fire.

The Coast Guard has received all necessary regulatory permits to commence construction of a new boathouse at Station Menemsha on Martha's Vineyard in early September, 2013. The original 6,000 square-foot boathouse, built in 1941, was destroyed by fire on July 12, 2010. A joint investigation, completed in 2011 by local, state, and federal authorities, was unable to determine a cause for the fire. The approved scope of work includes construction of a 5,000 square-foot single-bay boathouse. The facility will include boat maintenance and crew support spaces as well as a new boat ramp.

U.S. Coast Guard crews helped a Boston-based tug crew on Nov. 9 after they grounded their vessel near Buzzards Bay, Mass., around 1 p.m. No injuries were reported of the three crewmembers aboard the tug Southern Cross. Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a radio call from the tug reporting that the engine room was flooding and could not be controlled. The crew said they planned to beach the vessel to keep it from sinking. A Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew launched…