NEW YORK – Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous will be stopping at historic Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport and will be open to the public for guided tours Saturday and Sunday, March 27 and 28, from noon to 4 p.m.
New York City is Vigorous’ first stop in a lengthy patrol, which will take its crew up and down the east coast of the United States and into the Caribbean.
The Vigorous is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter home ported at U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, N.J. Vigorous routinely deploys with the HH-65C Dolphin helicopter and has two high-speed, long-range boats for search-and-rescue and maritime law enforcement missions.
The cutter Vigorous is also equipped with a 25mm Mark-38 chain gun and multiple .50-caliber machine guns. Under the Department of Homeland Security, Vigorous’ missions typically include living marine resource protection, migrant interdiction operations, search and rescue and counter-drug patrols.
The crew of Vigorous repatriated 465 illegal migrants interdicted at sea and conducted 235 vessel boardings last year, issuing more than 70 safety violations. Recently, the crew of the Vigorous led a major narcotics interdiction in the Caribbean, resulting in the seizure of 3,600 pounds of cocaine worth more than $110 million, hidden aboard the Honduran-flagged motor vessel Captain Lem. Nine crewmembers aboard the Captain Lem were arrested and turned over to Honduran officials for prosecution.
