Coast Guard: Boat 9 rescued from had crack in hull

A boat that sank Sunday off Sag Harbor - minutes after the Coast Guard plucked nine young adults who were aboard - had developed an 18-inch crack in its hull, according to the towing company that salvaged the craft.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Vincent Bogan said the 19-foot Stingray was on its way from Sag Harbor to Three Mile Harbor when it began filling with water. Someone onboard used a cell phone to call 911 at 6:55 p.m. and reached the East Hampton Town police, who routed the distress call to the Montauk Coast Guard station.

The Coast Guard dispatched a 25-foot rescue boat, which reached the boat, 2 to 3 miles from Cedar Point, at 7:40 p.m. Marine officers from East Hampton and Shelter Island also responded.

Bogan said the rescue was delayed because "we didn't have an exact position so we had to do a couple of different search patterns." He said the owner didn't have a GPS device or marine radio. East Hampton police didn't identify the owner Monday as they continued to gather information.

"When we got there," Bogan said, "the back of the boat was already underwater. We got them all off and the boat sank five minutes later."

All nine were wearing flotation devices and they had shot off a flare to attract attention before the Coast Guard boat's arrival, Bogan said.

"They were distraught and they were definitely glad that we were on-scene," he said. The rescued boaters were handed over to East Hampton harbormasters, and Sea Tow Eastern Long Island brought the boat ashore in Southold.

Sea Tow captain Bill Barker said the boat, built in 1986, had an 18-inch-long crack about a half-inch wide on the starboard side of the hull. "It doesn't appear that they hit anything," he said. "It looks like structural failure."

Larry Weiss, spokesman for the New York State United States Power Squadrons, a boating safety organization, said the incident shows the need for boaters to have a VHF marine radio and a GPS.

"Somebody using a VHF radio will not only get through simultaneously to the Coast Guard, the harbormaster and any other water safety organization but [also] everybody else who has their radio turned on," Weiss said. "They make nice tiny GPSs that you can hook up to your VHF radio" to make a distress call that gives rescuers the boat's exact position.