Station Portsmouth News

A fishing vessel quickly sank after colliding with a pilot boat near Newport News, Va. on Tuesday.The U.S. Coast Guard said it was alerted at 7:50 a.m. that the Virginia Pilot Association pilot boat Swift and a 38-foot deadrise fishing vessel Miss Heather collided near the Newport News Small Boat Harbor.A pilot aboard the Swift rescued two fishermen from the Miss Heather and brought them aboard as the fishing vessel rapidly took on water and sank.A rescue crew aboard a 45-foot…

A 738-foot bulk carrier that ran aground near Sewell’s Point in Norfolk, Va. was refloated during high tide on Friday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard said.It took seven tugs to refloat the Panamanian flagged Hong Dai, which grounded late Wednesday night with 22 crewmembers aboard. The ship was said to be carrying a cargo of coal, as well as 188,000 gallons of low sulfur fuel oil, diesel and lube oil, collectively. No injuries, pollution or flooding concerns were reported.The refloated…

U.S. Coast Guard and Port of Virginia personnel are assisting the crew of a bulk carrier that ran aground near Norfolk, Va. on Wednesday night.Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Virginia command center received notification from crewmembers aboard the the Panamanian-flagged Hong Dai stating the 738-foot bulk carrier ran aground on a soft sandy bottom approximately 400 meters Northwest of Sewell’s Point, the Coast Guard said on Thursday.The Hong Dai crew reported no injuries…

The Coast Guard suspended its search for a 63-year-old missing mariner on the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia, Sunday night.The missing 63-year-old man, Paul Youngk, was reportedly aboard his vessel when it began taking on water and eventually capsized early Sunday morning.An MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and the crews of Coast Guard Cutter Hawk and Station Portsmouth searched a total of 152 square miles in 11.6 hours.Also assisting in the search was the Virginia Marine Resources Commission…

Good Samaritans rescued four people from the water Saturday morning, after a collision between a recreational boat, with six people aboard, and an oyster barge being pushed by a tug which was headed for an oyster bed near the James River Bridge. The two people went missing after a collision took place between a recreational boat, with six people aboard. First responders from multiple agencies are working together by boat and air to search for the two other people that were aboard the 19-foot center console boat when the incident occurred. The waterway is closed between the James River Bridge and the Monitor Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel for safety of life.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathan Reynolds stood on a wooden Coast Guard pier looking to the water’s edge at an orange and silver boat used for saving lives and assisting mariners in distress, and bears the numbers 45601, as a small smile appeared on his face. “I’d rather have that boat than any other in the fleet,” he said, admiring its functionality and capability. Reynolds, a Boatswain’s Mate at Station Little Creek, is speaking about 45601, the first 45-foot Response Boat – Medium (RB-M) that was delivered to Coast Guard crews. Since 2008, over 170 RB-Ms have been delivered to over 100 boat stations throughout the Coast Guard. Station Little Creek holds the title of being the first unit to conduct missions on RB-M…

The U.S. Coast Guard said it is monitoring a 586-foot Thai-flagged cargo vessel that ran aground off Sewells Point in Norfolk, Via., Thursday. Watchstanders at the Sector Hampton Roads Command Center in Portsmouth received a call at 12:50 p.m. that the bulk cargo ship Mallika Naree lost propulsion in the Elizabeth River, struck buoy #5 and ran soft aground outside the channel. The Mallika Naree is carrying cement and steel. 45-foot Response Boat-Medium and 29-foot Response Boat-Small crews from Coast Guard Station Portsmouth and a boat crew from Aids to Navigation Team Hampton Roads launched at about 1 p.m. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., was diverted at 1:20 p.m. to conduct an overflight assessment of the surrounding area.

The Coast Guard rescued two people off their sinking vessel Friday, about 17 miles off shore from York, Maine. At around 3:15 p.m., Coast Guard Sector Northern New England received a MAYDAY call on VHF-CH. 16 from a crew member reporting their 45-foot lobster boat, Miss Mae & Son, was hit with a rogue wave and the pumps could not keep up with the water. A boat crew from Station Portsmouth Harbor launched their 47-foot response boat and arrived on the scene to find the fishermen standing on the pilot house in full survival gear. Due to safety concerns, the fishermen jumped into the water and the boat crew pulled alongside to bring them on board. The water temperature was 42 degrees and the air temperature was 37 degrees.

U.S. Coast Guard crews escorted the USS. Harry S. Truman Monday through the southern branch of the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, Va. The Coast Guard Cutter Sea Horse, home ported in Portsmouth, and response boat crews from Station Portsmouth provided the escort of the carrier during the transit.

The Coast Guard rescued a 58-year-old woman Monday from the Elizabeth River near the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. Virginia State Police dispatchers contacted Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads Command Center watchstanders at 11:20 p.m. Sunday, reporting a woman in the water. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina was diverted and a 25-foot Response Boat - Small crew from Coast Guard Station Portsmouth launched to assist. The helicopter crew spotted the woman at approximately 12:05 a.m., Monday, and guided the small boat to her location. At 12:10 a.m. the woman was pulled from the water…

The Coast Guard medevaced two crewmembers from the Elizabeth Anne, a 99-foot tug, Thursday, in the Elizabeth River approximately three miles southwest of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. A crewmember aboard the Elizabeth Anne contacted Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads watchstanders via VHF-FM channel 16 at approximately 7:45 a.m., reporting a parted chain injured two crewmembers. Sector Hampton Roads watchstanders dispatched a crew aboard a 25-foot Response Boat - Small from Coast Guard Station Portsmouth to assist. The RB-S crew arrived on scene at approximately 8 a.m. and removed the two crewmembers. "The crew worked seamlessly together to stabilize the victim," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Linden Hannon, a crewmember aboard the RB-S from Station Portsmouth.

The Coast Guard is responding Monday to a report of two grain barges that broke away from their pier and struck the Jordan Bridge on the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads received a report at approximately 12:30 a.m. from the Chesapeake Police Department, stating two 260-foot barges struck the bridge. Watchstanders deployed a crew from Coast Guard Station Portsmouth aboard a 25-foot Response Boat-Small to investigate. Chesapeake police units also responded. At approximately 2:30 a.m., crews aboard the tugboats Sea Coast and Eleen MaCalister removed the barges and took them to the Perdue Farms Grain Wharf. There was no visible damage to the bridge, and river and road traffic remains open.

A six-year-old boy was found alive under a capsized boat near Huntington Park, Newport News, Va. last night. The boy was found by Newport News Dive Team members in a joint-agency rescue effort involving the Coast Guard, Virginia Marine Resource Commission, Newport News lifeguards and Newport News Fire and Rescue. The Coast Guard was notified at approximately 5:30 this afternoon of a 15-foot pleasure craft capsized in the James River with four people already recovered and the boy missing. Coast Guard Station Portsmouth immediately launched a 25-foot rescue boat, and the Coast Guard Cutter Kennebec, a 160-foot construction tender stationed at Portsmouth, was diverted to assist.

The Coast Guard helped save a sinking barge today on the Elizabeth River near the south end of Naval Station Norfolk. The 20-person crew of the dredging barge Pullen, a 150-ft. barge owned by the Norfolk Dredging Company, saw the Coast Guard Cutter Block Island underway and called for help at 10:30 a.m. The crew had a malfunction in their dredging gear that began flooding their barge’s forward hold at a rate of approximately 400 gallons a minute. The Block Island responded with several dewatering pumps. With the water Pullen’s forward hold reaching eight feet deep, rescue coordinators at Group Hampton Roads diverted a Coast Guard helicopter in the area to drop an additional pump to the foundering barge.

The Coast Guard responded to the report of three listing vessels attached to the James River Reserve Fleet. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office Hampton Roads, Va., received the initial report from Maritime Administration at Fort Eustis, Va., at about 1:15 this afternoon that some vessels in the fleet were listing. Upon receiving the report, the Coast Guard immediately deployed a two-man pollution investigation team on a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., for an overflight of the ships, a two-man team on a Coast Guard 41-foot rescue boat from Station Portsmouth, and a four-man team on land. The three teams determined that one vessel was slightly listing but no signs of pollution had occurred from the incident.