Coast Guard Station Gloucester, Mass. - On the job, rain or shine
Story, video and photos by: Petty Officer 1st Class Zach Zubricki
**Click here or on below thumbnail image
to view video of a real Coast Guard search
and rescue case**
 |
Coast Guard Station
Despite the unusually rainy, cloudy, cooler weather, it was business as usual for Gloucester small boat crews last month, which have been dedicated to marine search and rescue and boating safety issues for the over 100 year history of the station.
This was on display Sunday, July 26 just after lunch when a lone fisherman in an 18-foot pleasure boat called Sea Tow’s dispatch center explaining that he could not start his outboard engine and was in danger of smashing against the rocky shoreline of
“He was drifting towards the rocks and in the process was trying to start his engine but couldn’t,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Omar E. Garcia, a boatswain mate and coxswain – or person in charge – of the boat that responded that day.
Garcia was concerned because the fisherman was in danger. “He could probably hit the rocks and damage his boat,” Garcia said “There were endless possibilities. He could take on water, possibly capsize, now you got a person in the water.”
The seas were 2-to-4 feet. Winds were 10-knots and visibility was poor due to overcast skies and a thick, milky haze.
Garcia hit the throttle on the twin-screw, 225-horsepower outboard engines of the orange response boat, at times coming completely out of the air. The boat raced towards
The rescue boat covered about five nautical miles in 15 minutes. Once on scene, they quickly spotted the fisherman, Ed Haley, 44, of
“He was able to push himself off the rocks with about a four-foot fishing net that he had,” Garcia explained. “He was pretty close, probably only in four or five feet of water. In talking to the guy, he was pretty experienced, so that helped him. He was able to do some work and get himself out of a hairy situation. I think what saved that guy was his experience. He did say to me that he was boating since he was 12 or 13 years-old. To me, that did play a big role in how this one turned out. It could have been a lot worse. His experience took over. Whether the mariner helps himself, or we help him, it's always good [when it turns out ok.] ”
Haley stated his boat was suffering from an unknown electrical problem, and that the problems may have been with the boat’s batteries. Whatever the case, the Coast Guard crew said they were glad Haley was ok, and escorted him and his boat under its own power back to Beverly Harbor to make sure he reached shore safely.
Haley talked more at the dock and appeared visibly shaken when reflecting how close he had come to seeing his boat get smashed up. He explained that right at the last minute he was able to get the engine running as he held up his fishing net with a look of relief.
He thanked the Coast Guard crew for coming to his aid, and appreciated the escort back to the dock in case the boat lost power again. Haley explained that with all the rainy weather, he was really looking forward to some fishing before his boat experienced the trouble.
Station
The Station operates two 25-foot response boats and two 47-foot motor life boats year-round, 24 hours-per-day. The response boats are equipped with advanced electronics and communications equipment and have twin-screw, 225-horse power outboard engines. The motor life boats are designed for heavy seas and can automatically right themselves if they ever tip over in rough surf.
A Coast Guard Station Gloucester, Mass., 25-foot response boat ties up at the Station dock after a morning patrol of the harbor Sunday, July 26, 2009. The two Gloucester response boats are equipped with twin screw, 225-horsepower outboard engines. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Petty Officer 1st Class Zach Zubricki)
The station is commanded by Chief Warrant Officer Chris Sparkman, who oversees an all enlisted workforce who are trained in occupational specialties, or ratings, of Boatswain Mate, Machinery Technician, Storekeeper and Food Service Specialist.
Boatswain Mates are qualified expert seamen who operate and crew the small boats, which in the Coast Guard is a vessel under 65 feet in length. Coast Guard vessels that are over 65 feet are called cutters.
BOSTON - Petty Officer 2nd Class Omar E. Garcia, a boatswain mate, fuels up a Station Gloucester, Mass., 25-foot response boat after a morning patrol in Gloucester Harbor, Sunday, July 26, 2009. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Petty Officer 1st Class Zach Zubricki)
Machinery Technicians are trained at engine repair and keep the boats running and ready to respond. They also serve as boat crewmen and must be on a small boat every time one gets underway.
BOSTON - Petty Officer 3rd Class Phil M. Grouf, a machinery technician, works on an outboard engine aboard one of Station Gloucester's two 25-foot response boats at the station dock in Gloucester, Mass., Sunday, July 26, 2009. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Petty Officer 1st Class Zach Zubricki)
Storekeepers maintain supplies and are expert logisticians and the Food Service Specialists are the station cooks, who work long days serving three square meals per day for duty crews, keeping them well fed for the long hours that are sometimes required at a Coast Guard rescue station.
There are also non-rated personnel on duty at the station, who train to qualify as boat crewmen, engineers, and as radio watch standers in the station’s communication center.
These non-rates are usually recent graduates of recruit training at the Coast Guard’s only enlisted boot camp in
Coast Guard tradition and doctrine holds that senior enlisted members mentor junior personnel to instill discipline, stress training, and develop a sense of pride that comes with being in
Whatever the experience level of station personnel, they all work as a team and help carry out one of the Coast Guard’s bread and butter missions: search and rescue (SAR), which for summertime in New England keeps them all very busy.
Moreover, the weather in July, rather than drive people away from the water, has also presented the station with a unique challenge, explained Seaman Brett Teuber, a qualified boat crewman.
“This whole summer when you get a sunny day in, people just want to go out, and squeeze out every moment, and so you can get lots of boats out,” he said. “That’s sometimes when the trouble starts.”
The station counted 30 search and rescue cases in July with five on July 5 alone, according to Chief Petty Officer James Bridges, one of the station's most senior leaders.
But there was no sun shining on Friday, July 24: weather was very poor, with five-foot seas, winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour. There was heavy rain.
The 24-foot sailing vessel Barker was in
The Station launched a 25-foot response boat after getting word the sail boat was in trouble and made a quick transit to nearby scene.
“We got there and we were scanning for the boat when we saw it smashing against there,” said Teuber. “We responded to take the people off [the boat], but we saw them already crawling off up onto the jetty. They had all the survival gear on, including rain gear because it was raining pretty bad.”
Teuber explained that the survivors walked on top of the jetty to get back to shore.
“We sent a GV [government vehicle] to go pick them up, but the Gloucester Police Dept. intercepted them and brought them back here to the station,” said Teuber, who reported the survivors appreciated the help from the Coast Guard.
“We gave them hot food from the galley here and brought them some hot coffee,” he explained. “It was pretty bad out there, and the last month has been pretty bad weather here.”
According to Teuber, the duty boat crew wanted to make sure the people were ok, and they also had a new problem to resolve: the badly-damaged sailboat was sitting atop jagged rocks, half sunk, its masts only visible at high tide.
The officer of the day at the Station, Petty Officer 1st Class Michael M. Faivre, made calls on behalf of the sail boat crew, who arranged for a marine salvage company to come and extricate the sail boat from its unsafe perch upon the ancient rocks of
August has arrived, and maybe more usual summer weather will return to the rocky, scenic, shoreline of Cape Ann. But whatever happens, Coast Guard Station Gloucester will answer the SAR alarm, no matter what Mother Nature is up to.
printer friendly