Coast Guard Saves Flooding Vessel

A Coast Guard crew aided in the dewatering of a 50-foot fishing vessel about 32 miles off the coast of Nantucket, Mass. today around 5 p.m.

Coast Guard sector Southeastern New England received a call reporting fishing vessel Susan Marie, New Bedford, Conn., taking on water and listing 32 nautical miles east, southeast of Nantucket, Mass. around 2:55 p.m.

An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, with a dewatering pump on-board, launched from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod. The helicopter arrived on-scene around 4:52 p.m. and lowered the pump to the vessel in distress.

Coast Guard Cutter Campbell, of Portsmouth N.H., arrived on-scene and sent a rescue-and-assistance team aboard the Susan Marie to investigate the source of the flooding around 6 p.m.

The flooding source was found in a storage compartment, known as a lazarette. The flooding was controlled with the de-watering pump.

Campbell escorted the fishing vessel to Great Round Shoal where a 47-foot utility boat from Coast Guard Station Brandt Pt. took over the escort. Near Hankerchief Shoal a 25-foot fast-response boat from Coast Guard Station Chatham is scheduled to continue the escort back to Stage Harbor, Chatham Mass.