Beneath a billowing American flag and light breeze off the harbor, Buddy sat in salute at the U.S. Coast Guard Station Menemsha early Monday morning, chest proudly puffed, ready for his next treat.
The three-year-old golden retriever was sworn in as a seaman recruit by Senior Chief Jason Olsen at a special enlistment ceremony. With the duty crew standing behind him, Buddy became a rank and file member of the Menemsha team.
Coast Guard rescue crews medically evacuated a 13-year-old boy Saturday afternoon, after Martha’s Vineyard Hospital alerted the Coast Guard that no medical flight crew was available to transport the boy to a mainland hospital.
An Air Station Cape Cod MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew was launched and safely transported the injured boy to Massachusetts General Hospital. The boy was suffering from a severe groin injury.
Reversing a downsizing of seven years ago, the U.S. Coast Guard soon
will expand its Vineyard presence, including resumption of full use of
the Menemsha Coast Guard station.
As part of that process, Chilmark selectmen have been told the town
police department, now a tenant at the old historic station, located on
the hill overlooking the Home Port restaurant and Menemsha Pond, must
find a new home by May 1.
The United States Coast Guard has ordered the Steamship Authority and Hy-Line Cruises to increase security measures on their ferries following the terrorist bomb attacks in London last Thursday.
Coast Guard officials said they are not sounding an alarm, but are simply taking necessary precautions following the London attacks, which as of mid-day yesterday had accounted for 52 deaths.
The sea was rough on the night of Dec. 17, when David McConky went out in the Menemsha Coast Guard 41-foot utility boat and tried to rescue a fishing boat presumed sunk south of Noman's Land. Waves off Gay Head were anywhere from 10 to 15 feet high, and he had to turn back.
Fortunately a Coast Guard helicopter rescued the three men who were already ashore on the deserted island.
Four fishermen were lost this past Friday after their boat, the
75-foot steel dragger Lady of Grace from New Bedford, sank in Nantucket
Sound 11 miles east of Cape Pogue. A call for help was never made.
Menemsha Coast Guardsmen in a 47-foot motor lifeboat discovered the
location of the sunken vessel Sunday morning. Divers from the Southeast
Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council assisted the Menemsha crew.
Already this fall one Island angler has won a brand-new pickup truck for a huge striped bass he caught and the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby isn’t over yet.
That’s because he caught it in a different contest.
Morgan Taylor, 24, of Edgartown last week won the Angler of the Year Award in the annual Striper Cup, sponsored and run by the monthly publication On the Water. Mr. Taylor won the award for a 52-pound striped bass he caught from the shore way back in June.
In view of the fact that I am already considered by many in the “sport” fishing community as one of those dirty commercial bass fishermen, it will do little to hurt my reputation to shed some light on the history and practice of yo-yoing that has been conveniently overlooked in the knee-jerk and poorly considered reaction to lead weights being found in several derby fish this year.
Menemsha Coast Guardsmen played a large role in a rescue attempt following a collision between a sailboat and power boat in Buzzards Bay on Friday that left an experienced sailor dead.
Coast Guard personnel aboard the Menemsha-based 25-foot rescue boat responded to a mayday call for help shortly after 1:45 p.m.
Senior chief Stephen Barr of the Menemsha Coast Guard station said the boat crew arrived on scene in less than 35 minutes and found another patrol boat already there.
Five Coast Guardsmen were rescued from a submerged 25-foot response boat on Wednesday during a training exercise 10 miles south of Noman’s Land. The Coast Guard said one of the men suffered an ankle injury while another was treated for hypothermia. They were transported quickly to Menemsha where they were met by paramedics, according to Coast Guard spokesman James Rhodes.
The accident occurred at 11:31 a.m. Seas were three to four feet high. A number of boats were involved in the training exercise.
