Browsing: Coast Guard

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Coast Guard Grounds Helicopters: Spare Parts Shortage

The Coast Guard has grounded some helicopters, including those used in search-and-rescue operations, because it doesn’t have enough spare parts. And the situation can get worse with the coming of hurricane season. Read this story in military.com: The Coast Guard’s short-range search-and-rescue helicopters are flying at 70% of their potential scheduled hours due to a parts shortage, a situation that could worsen as hurricane season approaches, the service’s top officer told Congress on Wednesday. Six Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopters are currently grounded, with four more expected to be out of circulation by June. That’s roughly 10% of the fleet,…

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Coast Guard Ends Search for 8 Missing in Gulf

The Coast Guard has suspended its search for the eight crew still missing from the 129-foot commercial lift boat that capsized in a sudden storm in the Gulf of Mexico last week. The boat, the Seacore Power, was eight miles off Port Fourchon, the southernmost port in Louisiana, at the time. Six members of its crew were rescued fairly quickly, and the bodies of five others were recovered. A massive search, covering more than 9,200 square nm and involving four Coast Guard cutters, three 45-foot response boats, six fixed-wing aircraft and three helicopters did not find the eight still missing.…

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Maine Man Charged with Making False Mayday Call

The moral of this story is this: Do NOT mess with the Coast Guard. More specifically, do NOT transmit a false mayday call on channel 16. Here’s what we know so far: On the urging of the Coast Guard, a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, charges Nathan Libby, 31, a dock worker in South Thomaston, with placing a false mayday call on Channel 16 that sparked a five-hour search involving a Coast Guard boat, a Maine Marine Patrol boat, and a Coast Guard helicopter. “Calls like this hoax unnecessarily put our rescue crews at risk, drain…

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Search Ends for Missing Boat with 20 on Board

The Coast Guard has suspended a search for a 29-foot Mako with about 20 people on board that was three days overdue on a trip from Bimini to Lake Worth, Florida. The search, involving planes and boats, lasted 84 hours and covered an area of 17,000 square miles, about twice the size of the state of Massachusetts. The boat was reported missing a day after it was scheduled to arrive in Lake Worth, crossing the Gulf Stream from the Bahamas. The search did not turn up any trace of the boat or its passengers;  there was no record of any…

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Coast Guard Boat Hits Jetty in Port Aransas, Texas

As I’m sure readers of this website know, we have a deep respect for members of the United States Coast Guard. Indeed, the men and women in the Coast Guard are highly trained – and highly motivated – professionals who often put their lives on the line to keep us safe out there. But, as we also know, bad things can happen to the best of us. That’s certainly the case here, where a 29-foot Coast Guard boat ran into the south jetty in Port Aransas, Texas, on Tuesday night. Four crew were taken to a  hospital, reportedly with minor…

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Coast Guard Tests Unmanned Surface Vessels off Hawaii

The Coast Guard just began testing unmanned surface vessels off Hawaii, trying to learn if they can be used in remote parts of the Pacific to detect illegal fishing or other problems. The tests are run by the Coast Guard Research and Development Center, working with local Coast Guard units. They involve the Coast Guard’s own autonomous research vessel made by Metal Shark (at the left in the picture above), and autonomous vessel systems from SailDrone (at the right) and Spatial Integration Systems. The tests are off the south shore of Oahu, and run through Nov. 5. The tests will…

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Now Coast Guard Using Your Cell Phone To Find You

With a new i911 program, the Coast Guard now can use your cell phone to find you if you’re in distress – but only with your permission and only if you have your phone’s Location Services function turned on. The way it works is that if you call the Coast Guard in an emergency, they will ask for your cell phone number and then send you a text message authorizing them to use your phone’s GPS to find you. Your location, using the phone’s GPS information, will be displayed on a screen used by Coast Guard watchstanders. At that point,…

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Coast Guard Rescues 3 After Boat Sinks Off Georgia

The Coast Guard rescued three people after their boat sank 18 miles east of Cumberland Island, Georgia. It said that the crew on the 54-foot powerboat Bacchus did everything right, and that their actions led to a fast and safe rescue. The rescue started when Coast Guard watchstanders in the Charleston, South Carolina, command center heard a VHF distress call from the Bacchus at 8:18 a.m. on Saturday. The crew said the boat was taking on water and they were moving to a life raft. The crew also activated the boat’s EPIRB, transmitting their exact location. The Coast Guard diverted the…

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Boat Hits Charleston Jetty at Night: All Rescued

A 52-foot sportfishing boat hit the Charleston, South Carolina, jetty early Sunday morning, but a fast response by the Coast Guard and other organizations saved all five people on board. No one was injured in the accident. The Charleston Coast Guard station received a call from Sea Tow at 2:10 a.m. on Sunday, saying that the boat, Strike Finder, had hit the southern jetty leading into the harbor with five people on board. The Coast Guard sent a 45-foot response boat and a Dolphin helicopter out to help. It also contacted the MSC Antonia, which was heading into the harbor…

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Two Tugs Stranded, Crew Not Paid, Off Sabine Pass, Texas

Two tugboats have been stranded in the Gulf of Mexico, five miles off the coast of Sabine Pass, Texas, since Nov. 26. Members of the crew say they haven’t been paid since the start of the year. The tugs, with their attached barges, are more than 700 feet long, and are lying at anchor. The crews are asking for help, and contacted Father Sinclair Oubre, who’s with the International Seafarers Center in Port Arthur. He, in turn, asked the Transport Workers Federation, as well as the marine safety unit in Port Arthur, to seek a solution. Various members of the…

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