Coast Guard saves fishing boat off Montauk

A Massachusetts-based fishing boat limped into Montauk Harbor early Sunday morning after nearly sinking as it was buffeted by high waves 70 miles from shore, prompting the Coast Guard to mount a successful air and sea rescue.

The four-person crew of the Boston-based fishing vessel Shamrock had been 70 miles south of Montauk Saturday morning when the boat lost a plank of wood from its hull and began filling with water, said Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Kozak of the Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound, based in New Haven, Conn.

The crew tried to pump the water out of the 70-foot boat, but made a mayday radio call at 10:30 a.m. when the effort proved fruitless, Kozak said.

Because the boat was so far from shore, the Coast Guard did not get the call, Kozak said. But minutes later, officials heard the chatter from other boats discussing the distress signal.

Coast Guard authorities asked the Ocean Pride, another fishing vessel stationed midway between shore and the distressed vessel, to find out what had happened to the beleaguered Shamrock, Kozak said.

The Coast Guard sent a Falcon jet and a Jayhawk helicopter from its Cape Cod station to the scene, as well as its cutter, Tiger Shark. The aircrews arrived at 11:47 a.m. to find the boat's crew had donned survival gear and had the life raft ready as they continued to work to save the boat, he said.

"They knew there was a chance this thing could have gone south," Kozak said.

The Falcon dropped two additional pumps to the Shamrock, but waves of 10 to 12 feet kept crashing over the boat, refilling it with water and hampering efforts, Kozak said.

Eventually, the crew was able to stabilize the boat, and the Coast Guard cutter arrived to escort the Shamrock to Montauk, where it arrived at about 1 a.m. Sunday, Kozak said.

By that time, the boat was riding so low in the water, however, that it could not fit through the channel to get into the harbor's shipyard for repairs, Kozak said.

Instead, the crew spent the night pumping out the boat and then left for New Bedford, Mass., at 4 a.m. Sunday with a Coast Guard escort.

Kozak said the boat's design -- a three-chambered bulkhead designed to keep the entire vessel from flooding from a leak -- helped, as did the crew's professional response.

"It looked really hairy out there, but they knew what they were doing," he said. "They took all our recommendations and they operated equipment the best they could. They saved that boat."