The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sapelo rescued four people and towed their disabled 65-foot sailboat into St. Thomas Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a press release Saturday.
Two crew members and two passengers aboard the French-flagged vessel Bounty were on their way from Virginia to St. Maarten when the sailboat reportedly lost steering in 10-foot seas and deteriorating weather about 215 nautical miles north of St. Thomas.
One of the passengers is a U.S. citizen, two are French citizens and the other is a dual citizen of both nations.
The Coast Guard received notification Tuesday night that the Bounty was in distress. As the Coast Guard Cutter Sapelo got under way to assist the Bounty, the agency also initiated an Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue alert that was answered by the crew of the Chinese-flagged CSAV Lingue. The 858-foot container ship Lingue diverted course and reached the Bounty Wednesday morning to monitor the situation and render rescue assistance if needed until Sapelo’s arrival.
“This case highlights how true mariners come together to save lives in the time of need,” Capt. Drew Pearson, Sector San Juan commander, said in the press release. “The swift response and superb teamwork between the AMVER ship Lingue and Coast Guard rescue crews throughout this three-day response led to four lives being saved.”
The Sapelo reached the Bounty Wednesday evening as weather deteriorated and seas reached 10 feet. The crew confirmed that all passengers onboard were safe and made temporary repairs to lock the sailboat’s steering in place so the Sapelo could tow the sailboat to St. Thomas.
“The passengers remained on the sailboat,” Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said.
Sponsored by the United States Coast Guard, AMVER is a computer-based, voluntary global ship reporting system used to assist and rescue mariners in distress. The system allows rescuers to determine what ships are in the area and which are best suited to respond to a distress call.
AMVER is open to any commercial vessel over 1,000 gross tons, regardless of nation of origin. Castrodad said the program began shortly after the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg in 1912.
