Updated 12 noon
A 33-foot pleasure craft struck an aggregate barge being cable-towed by the tug Bucky off East Chop Wednesday night.
Coast Guard vessels from Station Menemsha and Station Woods Hole responded, according to U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Amanda Wyrick. A Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Cape Cod also responded. The Jayhawk crew deposited a rescue diver, who evaluated the medical needs of the three people on the pleasure craft, a Pursuit model. The boaters’ injuries did not require air transportation.
A 45-foot response boat transported the boaters and the helicopter crew member to Station Woods Hole, according to Chief Chris Lobherr, officer in charge of the station. One boater was transported in an ambulance, while the other two received first aid, he said. The boaters’ vessel was towed to the Falmouth Harbor fuel pier by TowBoatUS, according to Wyrick. The Pursuit was only about a month old, Mark Brown, owner of TowBoatUS in Falmouth, said. The damage, he said, was above the waterline, and looked repairable. Brown estimated the speed of the Pursuit at less than 20 knots. One of the boaters said he saw the tug on radar but not the barge, Brown recalled. Brown described the barge as larger than the tug, and fully loaded. The collison “knocked some teeth out” of one of the boaters, he said.
The barge suffered “no notable damage,” Wyrick wrote. Navigation lights and related equipment were “confirmed to be working,” she noted.
Station Menemsha received the call at 10:15 pm, according to Senior Chief Justin Longval, officer in charge of Station Menemsha. The station dispatched a motor lifeboat. The motor lifeboat crew inspected the barge and found everything in order, he said.
Updated with more details.
How hard is it to see a BARGE coming ?
Pretty hard at night!
You can easily be disoriented.
There was dense fog that night
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