One woman died after a casino shuttle boat caught fire off Port Richey, Florida, and all 50 passengers on board jumped overboard into shallow water as fast-moving flames consumed the vessel. Only quick thinking by the boat’s captain prevented a worse disaster. The fire started about 4 on Sunday afternoon after the 60-foot shuttle boat, the Sun Cruz, left Port Richey, carrying its complement of passengers 3.5 miles offshore to the Tropical Breeze Casino Cruise, operating in international waters. The shuttle was about 25 miles northwest of Tampa. Shortly after the shuttle left the dock, the captain saw smoke coming…

Jason and Christie Assink were just out for a fall boat ride in Lake Michigan off South Haven, Michigan, south of Holland, when they saw flames and smoke billowing up from a boat fire about a mile offshore. In their day jobs, they’re both first responders. They’re also responsible boaters. They immediately called the Coast Guard and headed over to the burning boat to help. When the Assinks got there, they saw a couple in the water. The couple had jumped off their boat in such a hurry that they didn’t have life jackets or any floatation devices; they were…

We all learn from our experiences. How to do things better, faster, safer next time. But here’s one experience we’d rather not have – a fire on a boat in a slip nearby in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened two weeks ago to Chris Sullivan, who lives aboard his powerboat in a marina in Falmouth, Mass. He works there too, so he’s very familiar with the marina, the boats and the security arrangements. The story starts with someone pounding on the side of Sullivan’s hull at 1:30 in the morning to wake him up. A…

The Best Revenge 5, a luxurious 60-foot Alliaura catamaran built in 2003, caught fire and sank in Falmouth Harbor on Cape Cod early this week. One of the two crew members on board was burned badly and flown to a hospital in Boston. The boat serves charter clients in New England in the summer and in the Caribbean in the winter. The fire broke out at 1:43 a.m. at MacDougall’s Marine Service marina in Falmouth. When fire crews from several upper Cape Cod communities arrived, the Best Revenge 5 was totally involved, but they were able to keep the fire…

How’s this for a sea trial gone wrong? Last Sunday afternoon the owner of a 1983 Carver 36 filled up the boat at the Mississippi Pub, a riverside restaurant with a fuel dock in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, on the banks of the Mississippi River. A potential buyer climbed on for a sea trial. The owner started the engines and the boat caught fire and exploded. A fast-thinking fuel dock attendant shut off the breakers at the dock as everyone on the Carver climbed off the burning boat. No one was injured. They untied the boat to get it off…

This wasn’t the happy Memorial Day cruise that Chad Stockman, 44, had in mind. Stockman, from Lohman, Missouri, was cruising with friends at mile marker 12 on Lake of the Ozarks on his 2002, 37-foot Power Quest on Memorial Day when he smelled smoke. Stockman raised the engine hatch and saw flames shooting from the rubber exhaust boot. He tried to extinguish them, but the fire spread too fast. A passing boat picked up Stockman and his crew, while his Power Quest burned to the waterline and sank. No one was injured. For more of the story and a video:…