Coast Guard crews saved two fishermen Thursday after their vessel’s engine room caught fire in Nantucket Sound.
The captain of the 41-foot fishing vessel Jupiter sent out a call for assistance over VHF Ch. 16 at about 8:50 a.m., and the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Oak, a 225-foot buoy tender, answered their call for help. Simultaneously, a commercial aircraft informed the watchstanders at First Coast Guard District command center that they saw smoke coming from a fishing vessel.
Within five minutes, the Oak’s small boat crew launched and arrived on-scene with fire extinguishers to help the fishermen put out the fire.
A 42-foot boat crew from Station Chatham and a Hyannis Fire Boat crew arrived on scene to assist. The Fire Marshal inspected the vessel to make sure there was no chance of reflash, before the Chatham boat crew put the Jupiter in tow to bring back to Hyannis Harbor.
“While Aids-to-Navigation is our bread and butter, the Oak is a multi-mission platform,” said Lt. j. g. Stephen Nolan, the operations officer for the Oak. “It’s not everyday we have the opportunity to save lives.”
No injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The Coast Guard Cutter Oak is a 225-foot Aids-to-Navigation buoy tender, homeported in Newport, Rhode Island. The crew services over 100 buoys in New England.
