On February 8, the fishing vessel Sea Puppy caught fire off St. Catherines Island, Georgia. The Coast Guard was alerted by the crew the vessel was on fire and sinking. The Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter from Savannah along with an 29 foot response boat from Tybee Island. The helicopter arrived on scene and hoisted all three crew off the Sea Puppy safely. No reports of injuries.
On February 2, the 52 foot long fishing vessel Pacific Star suffered water ingress near Lituya Bay, Alaska. The fishing vessel reported to the Coast Guard the Pacific Star had sustained water ingress through a hatch in the stern of the vessel. The pumps on board the fishing vessel were unable to control the flooding and there was the risk the vessel would sink.
The Coast Guard dispatched helicopters from the Sitka and Kodiak stations. An hour later the Jayhawk helicopter from Sitka arrived on scene. The helicopter lowered a dewatering pump to the Pacific Star. The crew of the Pacific Star were able to get the pump running and brought the flooding under control.
The Pacific Star proceeded under its own power to Graves Harbor while being escorted by the helicopter from Kodiak. There the crew were able to make repairs and dewater the Pacific Star. The following day, the Pacific Star proceed back to Sitka escorted by another fishing vessel Sherrie Marie. No reports of injuries, damage or pollution released.
The 219 gt fishing vessel Lady Gudny became disabled in heavy seas 230 miles southeast of Kodiak, Alaska. The Lady Gudny went adrift after it’s engine had failed. The crew could not restart the engine after they had exhausted all the fuel filters on board. The crew sent out a distress call requesting additional filters. A Coast Guard helicopter was dispatched and attempted to deliver additional filters, but conditions made it impossible to deliver them. With waves reaching 22 feet and wind gusts up to 50 mph, the Coast Guard decided to dispatch a cutter to take the Lady Gudny under tow.
The 225 foot long cutter SPAR arrived on scene the next day. The SPAR was able to pass a towline over to the Lady Gudny and began towing the fishing vessel back to port. However, the towline parted and became entangled with the SPAR’s propeller.
With both the Lady Gudny and cutter SPAR disabled, the Coast Guard dispatched the cutters Hickory, Alex Haley and Douglas Munro to assist the disabled vessels. A Jayhawk helicopter was dispatched and was able to hoist all four crew off the Lady Gudny. No reports of injures.
The Lady Gudny (IMO 7948407) was built in 1979 at Mobile, Alabama.