Coast Guard Helps Stranded Boaters Near Sandy Hook

The U.S. Coast Guard helped seven people who were aboard a disabled boat off the coast of Sandy Hook this weekend.

The U.S. Coast Guard at Sector New York received a mayday call from someone aboard the Dream Weaver on Sunday, according to a news release from the agency.

According to the Coast Guard news release:

The boat, a 42-foot pleasure craft, was disabled some 27 miles off the coast, and the people on board had spotted smoke in their engine room.

Around 11:25 a.m. Coast Guard rescue crews headed out to help the boaters. Those crews were in a 47-foot Motor Life Boat and an HH-65 Dolphin Helicopter.

The boat crew arrived at 1:37 p.m. and took five of the stranded boaters aboard.

One Coast Guard crew member also helped the other two boaters on the Dream Weaver, and that crew member also made sure there was no fire in the boat’s engine room.

The Coast Guard then “took the vessel in side tow.”

“What they did correctly was immediately notifying the Coast Guard when they discovered there was a problem,” Petty Officer 2nd Class Richard Clarke, a Boatswain’s Mate stationed at Sandy Hook, said in a prepared statement. “They activated an EPIRB they had aboard. When an EPIRB is activated, it sends a signal to a Rescue Control Center and within 90 minutes, it will accurately display their position.”