Dead Coast Guardsman not from Puget Sound

A Coast Guardsman who died Sunday after being ejected from a 25-foot homeland security boat belonged to a maritime safety and security team deployed to the Seattle area.

------------------------------

This just goes to show that one may give his or her life for Country, even in training. This can be a risky business but the training is a must.

Dwayne

One killed (Hal W. Pulfer, 48, of Highland Park) - 50 saved in Maui whale watching sailboat accident

Looks like the mast had broken twice before. HONOLULU — The Coast Guard searched Monday for a sunken whale-watching catamaran whose mast broke off near Maui, killing one man and requiring the rescue of at least 50 tourists.

The crew from the 55-foot tour boat reported on the vessel's radio Sunday evening that the mast had snapped about two miles off Kahana Beach near Kaanapali. Witnesses said the boat was sinking and many passengers were already in the water when more boats arrived.

Maui news. Dwayne

Schooner Sullivan crew saves 3 fishermen off Florida coast

The crew of Wisconsin's flagship, the schooner Denis Sullivan, rescued three fishermen whose boat had sank in the Atlantic Ocean 11 miles off Islamorada, Fla., Coast Guard officials reported this afternoon.The Sullivan, which sails from the Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin on Milwaukee's Lakefront, was navigating from Miami to Key West with 19 high school students on board when the crew spotted distress flares from the sinking vessel about midnight.Scott Hooper, the Sullivan's First Mate, assisted two of the injured fishermen onto the Sullivan, while the third man worked his way onto the schooner's rescue ladder.All three were taken by Coast Guard craft to receive treatment in Islamorada.The three-masted schooner sustained a one-foot puncture to its hull when it struck the submerged fishing vessel, but remained afloat with the assistance of pumps delivered by Coast Guard boat and helicopter. The ship was making its way to Key West for repairs.

AUDIO: Phone interview with Hugh Covert, the captain of the Denis Sullivan, and Scott Hooper, the first mate

Coast Guard Press Release here.

This is a really nice ship.

Dwayne

Falls 60 Feet From Cruise Ship, Lives to Tell His Tale - Sometimes you Get Lucky

March 22, 2007 — By almost all accounts, Michael Menckmyer shouldn't be alive.

Last week, he plunged 60 feet from the balcony of his cruise ship. Alone in the ocean, he tread water for eight hours. Miraculously, he survived with only minor injuries. He told his story exclusively to "Good Morning America."

---------------------------------------

Truth can be stranger than fiction.....

Dwayne

Jungle Adventures Nature Park Christmas Florida - Boat Accident - Fines

CHRISTMAS, Fla. -- A popular Central Florida tourist attraction faces fines after a tour boat filled with children and other riders began to take on water and sink in alligator-infested water, according to a report from FLORIDA TODAY news partner WKMG Local 6 News. -------------------------- This had the potential to be ugly. Dwayne

Nikkei Captain Awaits Sentencing in Seamen’s Manslaughter Case

On a stormy night in the fall of 2005, a 38-foot charter fishing boat, the Sydney Mae II, was hit with two breaker waves in the treacherous waters where Oregon’s Umpqua River runs into the Pacific Ocean. When the second wave descended on the boat, Captain Richard Oba, 58, and his four passengers were thrown into the icy Pacific. Some 45 minutes later, Coast Guard rescuers found Oba and passenger James Parker clinging to Oba’s life jacket.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This is a story we have been following for some time.

Dwayne

Coast Guard finds man who jumped off ship

MIAMI - Coast Guard crews found a 24-year-old man Friday hours after he reportedly jumped from a cruise ship about 30 miles east of Fort Lauderdale.

West Boca boater swims all night for his life, prays for lost friends

Fighting for his life against the tide proved impossible, so Frank Yanac turned toward a beacon of light on shore and swam. His two friends were swimming behind him after a boating accident Saturday night in the Gulf of Mexico, but their voices grew dim as Yanac, 66, a former lifeguard, made it through patches of cold and warm water in the throes of exhaustion and onto the sand. ------------------------------- Dwayne

Body of missing boater found

The body of missing DeBary boater was found Sunday morning in Lake Monroe about a mile from where his boat was recovered.

Collins

Authorities discovered the body of Gregory Collins, who had not been wearing a life preserver, about 9 a.m. floating in the northwest section of the lake, said Kat Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Investigators will need to wait for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but there were no signs of foul play, Kelly said. Collins is a diabetic, and did not take his medication Wednesday morning, his wife, Sue, told authorities.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dwayne

Airboat Accident / Death - No Criminal Charges to Be Filed

This was said: "Hathaway listed the factors as the dimensions of the airboat, unfamiliarity with the weight limitations of the boat, a lack of standard operating procedures, a lack of experience, the decision to fasten the backboard to the basket, a lack of time to assess the weight carried by the boat and the occurrence of an unexpected wake from a passing boat. "A violation of standards does not establish criminal liability," Hathaway said. "We're not here to assign fault. We're here to see if the event rises to the level of criminal negligence."" .... The question addressed by Hathaway and answered in his report was straightforward: Did Robert Drye, as the operator of the Cornish Rescue Squad airboat, negligently cause the death of Virginia Yates? In short, the answer is no. ---------------------------

Dwayne

No Hard Feelings after Whale Hits Boat - Ocean Sailors beware of gentle giants! - Ocean Survival - Books by Callahan and Robertson

AUSTRALIA: January 11, 2007

SYDNEY - A sailor whose yacht was destroyed by a humpback whale off New Zealand said he had got a good "vibe" from the giant mammal and thought it was trying to say sorry, local media said on Wednesday.

For practical pointers on how to survive such a meeting see these excellent books on ocean survival.

"Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea" and Adrift second link and Survive the Savage Sea and the Robertson website.

These books are classics and a must read for anyone who intends an ocean passage.

---------------------

Dwayne

Tug Valour Hearings Resumed in Search of Cause of Sinking

SAVANNAH, Ga. - The Coast Guard has concluded it final public hearing this afternoon regarding the sinking of the tug Valour, a 125-foot tug that sank approximately 40-miles east of Wilmington, N.C. Jan. 18, 2006.

Coast Guard investigators recalled the crew of the Valour to testify one last time before the investigators submit their findings to Coast Guard District Seven Command in Miami and Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington for review. Facts collected at this final hearing will be developed into a conclusion to be presented in the Coast Guard's final investigative report.

Investigators focused their questioning for the six crewmen in three major areas: training, survival equipment and the procedures regarding ballast tanks. The Coast Guard called this hearing to clarify certain issues in each of these areas.

It was also released in the public hearing that the Coast Guard Marine Safety Center in Washington and engineers with Over Seas Shipholding Group, Inc., the owners of the tug Valour, believe that Valour couldn't have sank with out water being present in the engine room.

The mood throughout the hearing was very emotional as the crewmen recalled the chaotic events that unfolded that January night. The widows of Richard H. Smoot, 50, of Southpoint, Ohio, and Ronald L. Emory, 56, of Milford, Del., were in the hearing and wept as the crewmen testified about the deaths of their husbands.

The Coast Guard's investigation is intended to determine the causes of the accident and obtain information that may prevent or reduce the occurrence of similar incidents.

The owning company is still talking of bringing the Tug Valour up from the bottom.

--------------------------------

Dwayne

Five People Spend Night At Sea After Boat Capsizes

CBS4) MIAMI BEACH Coast Guard crews scrambled into action Sunday morning after a boat capsized, stranding five people in the water for over 15 hours. The accident Saturday evening near Fowey Rocks, about 5 miles south of Government Cut, when the five people on board the boat tried to raise the anchor, but several waves crashed over the bow and forced the vessel to capsize. -------------------------- These folks were really lucky. This could have been a disaster if not for the keen eye of the freighter Seaboard Florida and her captain and crew. Dwayne

Man injured at Kowaliga - Fishing Boat Collision

Man injured at Kowaliga Two fishing boats involved in accident

The Alabama Marine Police are investigating a two-boat accident that occurred at the Kowaliga boat pier on Lake Martin Thursday afternoon that left one man seriously injured.

Ethan Allen Update - Criminal Charges?

QUEENSBURY — Misdemeanor charges against a cruise line and the captain of a boat that capsized on Lake George, killing 20 elderly tourists, were unsealed Monday by a prosecutor who said current law did not support stiffer penalties.

Dwayne