BOSTON — Coast Guard rescue crews assisted a Canadian-flagged fishing vessel early Friday morning after it began taking on water near Chandler Bay, Maine.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Northern New England Command Center in Portland, Maine, received a mayday call at 4:28 a.m. from the three-person crew aboard the fishing vessel Jill Marie, indicating their 50-foot vessel struck a rock and was taking on water.
Rescue crews from Coast Guard Station Jonesport, Maine, launched with dewatering pumps aboard a 47-foot motor life boat. Once on scene, the Coast Guard crew boarded the Jill Marie and began dewatering it.
As the pumps controlled the flooding, the Coast Guard escorted the Jill Marie and crew back to Jonesport. Safely moored at the pier, the Jill Marie crew quickly affected repairs and were soon underway again enroute to their homeport in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
Station Jonesport escorted them to Canadian waters where they were met by two sister ships who relieved the escort.
“Water was coming in pretty quickly when the crew got on scene – but they were ready for it,” said Chief Petty Officer Aaron Clendaniel, the command duty officer at Sector Norther New England. He said even though Maine has nearly 3,500 miles of shoreline, the Coast Guard is strategically positioned in the state to respond quickly along the coast and off shore.
