WELCOME TO THE FLEET

John R. Leopold, Anne Arundel County executive, formally christened the hull of the 35-foot emergency-response vessel Arundel Patriot on Sept. 24 during a commissioning ceremony at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis, Md. The Arundel Patriot is the first aluminum catamaran placed in service as a joint asset for the Anne Arundel County police and fire departments, and more than 100 people attended the event to mark the county’s first combined emergency-response boat.

Recovered Coast Guardsman Identified

Portsmouth, Va. — The Coast Guard has identified the service member who died Oct. 13 after falling into the James River near Newport News during a training exercise. Petty Officer Third Class Shaun Lin, 23, originally from New York, served as a maritime enforcement specialist and had been with the Coast Guard for about three years.

The incident occurred at approximately 9:15 p.m. while Lin, a member of the Maritime Safety and Security Team New York, was attempting to transfer from a 25-foot small boat to the Coast Guard cutter Frank Drew near the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel. According to the account, Lin fell from a ladder into the James River. The small-boat crew attempted an immediate recovery but lost sight of him in the water.

Search efforts began right away and included surface and air support, along with a subsurface search conducted with assistance from local police and fire dive teams and side-scan sonar. The training accident remains under investigation as authorities continue to review the circumstances surrounding the transfer and subsequent recovery efforts.

Two Rescued from Patapsco River

Station Baltimore — On Oct. 1, the Coast Guard rescued two men from a 38-foot fishing vessel, the Wood Duck, after it struck an object and started taking on water in the Patapsco River near Fort Smallwood State Park, Md. The two people rescued were Thomas H. Tolson Sr., 49, of Severn, Md., and John L. Sullivan Jr., 60, of Columbia, Md.

Coast Guard Sector Baltimore watchstanders received a distress call by cell phone at 2:11 p.m. Reporting crews dispatched included a 41-foot utility boat from Coast Guard Station Curtis Bay, a Maryland Natural Resources Police crew, an Anne Arundel fire unit and two Maryland State Police helicopters. The Coast Guard crew arrived on scene at 2:28 p.m., began dewatering the vessel and placed it in tow. Tolson and Sullivan were transferred to the Coast Guard vessel and taken to Station Curtis Bay. There were no reported injuries.

Two Rescued off Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Station Castle Hill, R.I. — On Sept. 29 at about 1:45 p.m., a good Samaritan vessel rescued two people from the water after the 29-foot boat they were aboard experienced engine failure off Portsmouth, R.I., near Prudence Island. A Coast Guard Station Castle Hill 45-foot response boat crew transferred the rescued individuals from the good Samaritan vessel and transported them to Mellville Marina in Portsmouth, where they were met by an ambulance and taken to Newport Hospital. There were no reports of serious injuries.

Two other people who remained aboard the disabled boat were taken aboard a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary boat. A second auxiliary vessel towed the disabled boat and transferred it later to a commercial towing service. The cause of the engine failure is unknown and will be investigated by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, which also responded with a vessel to the scene.

Rapidly Taking on Water off Provincetown

Station Provincetown (Mass.) — On Oct. 8, a Coast Guard response recovered three boaters after their 20-foot vessel began taking on water about one mile off the coast of Provincetown, Mass. During the rescue, one person was unconscious and received CPR from a station crewmember while en route back to the station; that individual was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Two other boaters were rescued and treated for hypothermia; both were in stable condition at the time they were transported. At approximately 9:10 a.m., a distress call reported the vessel was taking on water. Coast Guard crews employed Rescue 21, the service’s enhanced command, control and communications system, to triangulate the boaters’ location by using signals received from multiple towers. A 47-foot motor lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Provincetown recovered all three individuals from the water, and local EMS transported them to a nearby hospital. The name and home port of the vessel were not reported, and the cause of the water ingress remains unknown.

This article originally appeared in the Mid-Atlantic Home Waters section of the December 2010 issue.