Proceedings Of The Marine

WIN 2015

Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.

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83 Winter 2014 – 2015 Proceedings www.uscg.mil/proceedings ensure more favorable condition and allow time for Coast Guard assets to arrive. At approximately 3:30 a.m., the water reached the vessel's tween deck level, so the crew retreated to the weather deck. The crew donned immersion suits and prepared "ditch kits." Less than an hour later, the vessel rolled to starboard on its beam ends. 6 Although the vessel did not capsize fully, the heeling moment forced the crew to abandon ship with- out the ditch kits that they had prepared. Most of the crew boarded the two canopied life rafts. Around 6:30 a.m., two MH- 60 Jayhawks from Elizabeth City arrived on the scene and rescued 14 out of 16 crew members: 13 from the life rafts and one from the open ocean. The Coast Guard returned with the rescued crew to Air Station Eliza- beth City. Two crew members received medical attention from local hospitals for injuries, and the rest were debriefed and released to the Red Cross. One crew member and the master remained missing. Around noon, the vessel's port main engine and generator stopped running, when the port day tank ran out of fuel. The vessel's electric bilge pumps now relied on the starboard generator. At approximately 2 p.m., the vessel's sail forward blew out at the seams and had to be furled. Moreover, the electric bilge pumps had trouble maintaining their prime since Saturday, possibly due to the heavy seas causing water in the bilges to move away from the strainers, causing them to suck air. Then at approximately 5 p.m. the starboard gen- erator's power began to fuctuate. During the night, the crew brought the generators offine several times to replace the fuel filters, which also shut down the electric bilge pumps. With every loss of power, the water level in the bilges grew higher. Moreover, the wind and waves had worsened, causing the vessel to roll more severely, which resulted in more injuries to those aboard including the master. The master fell across the tween deck and hit his back against the table. Also around this time, the fore course 5 came out of its furl. The crew was unsuccessful in fxing it, so it remained partially unfurled. Calling for Help The master and chief mate used a satellite phone and an HF email system to call for assistance. They notifed the vessel owner via satellite phone, who directed the vessel's shore support to contact the U.S. Coast Guard. At approximately 8:45 p.m., the vessel's shore support notifed the U.S. Coast Guard about the vessel taking on water, approximately 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina. At the same time as the notifcation from shore support, the Coast Guard received a distress signal from the vessel's Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon. The Coast Guard launched a C-130H to provide over-watch and estab- lish direct communication with the vessel. At approximately 9:30 p.m., the vessel's starboard generator ceased operating when water from the bilges splashed up and shorted it out. The starboard main engine and the por- table hydraulic pump continued to work, but the vessel lost the dewatering battle and began taking on water at about 2 feet per hour. The master directed that an emergency, gas- oline-powered bilge pump be put into operation; however, no one could make it work. Later that same night, the second mate got the port generator to work again at approximately 10:30 p.m., which allowed for continued communications with the U.S. Coast Guard. Abandon Ship! By Monday morning, Oct. 29, 2012, conditions only got worse. The master directed the crew to prepare to aban- don ship and notifed the Coast Guard of their intentions to do so. The master wanted to abandon ship at frst light to The tall ship Bounty 488 nautical miles from the center of Hurricane Sandy. Used by permission. Copyright © 2013 Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ, TomTom, Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community. All rights reserved.

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