Coast Guard 29-foot Response Boat-Small file photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryan Keegan.
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — The Coast Guard rescued a 68-year-old man after his 15-foot vessel became disabled with limited means of communication aboard, early Tuesday morning.
Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City was contacted by the local police department about the disabled mariner at 11:27 p.m., who said that the mariner had only 30 minutes of battery left on his cell phone with no other means of communication aboard his vessel.
A 29-foot Response Boat-Small II boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City was launched to respond.
Once on scene, the Coast Guard boatcrew took the man and his disabled vessel in tow, and brought them to the Coinjock Boat Ramp in Coinjock, North Carolina, where the man was then picked up by his wife.
“It’s always best to have two, three, even four different means of communication onboard your vessel when you’re out on the water.” said Lt. j.g. Magen Bloch, command duty officer at the Coast Guard Sector North Carolina command center. “Cell phones can be unreliable with reception and battery issues, so we always recommend having a VHF marine radio onboard, since the Coast Guard continuously monitors channel 16 for distress calls.”
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