CGC WILLIAM SPARLING

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Coast Guard Cutter sent to sinking site of fishing vessel to recover bodies of the crew

Two bodies were found in the fishing vessel 'Seahorse' on June 11. The 30-foot ship was found sunk in 25 feet of water near Billingsgate Shoal, west of Wellfleet, in Cape Cod Bay, on the afternoon,. The 'William Sparling' was deployed and arrived on scene within 30 minutes. Divers from the Massachusetts environmental police, and Massachusetts state police identified the vessel. Both crew members were found onboard. Divers recovered the bodies, and authorities have contacted their families. The Coast Guard sent investigating officers to explore the reasons why the vessel sank and when it sank. Salvage operations will follow to potentially get the vessel out of the water. The 'Seahorse' had left Rock Harbor at Orleans on June 8 at 8 a.m. Capt. Shawn Arsenault was at its helm, accompanied by his girlfriend. At 10:30 a.m. other fishermen saw him throwing debris off the vessel. Harbormaster Nate Sears was notified by witnesses and tried to contact him to tell him that wasn't allowed. He tried twice to contact him but wasn't successful. At about 2 p.m. a witness who was fishing in Cape Cod Bay saw Arsenault dragging for quahogs. He didn't see anyone else on the 'Seahorse'. When Arsenault didn't return on the high tide on that day, Sears assumed he'd gone to another harbor to land his shellfish and planned to fish the next high tide out of that port. On June 9, Sears contacted Arsenault's brother, Paul, a commercial fisherman who was on a contact list for Shawn and told him he wasn't going to return until he got his limit. On the night of June 9, Arsenault was still not back at Rock Harbor. Sears began making calls to other harbors to see if Arsenault was docked there. Onn the morning of, June 10, Sears received the last of the confirmations that harbour masters in Dennis, Provincetown and Orleans had not seen Arsenault. At that point he reached out to the Coast Guard to say he was concerned about the wellbeing of Arsenault and his girlfriend. The Coast Guard initiated a search for the vessel and put a broadcast out on VHF. The Coast Guard located the cell phone ping at around 10:30 p.m. two miles east of Chatham. It would have taken the Seahorse six to eight hours to reach that spot. On June 11, the Coast Guard was doing grid pattern searches, using sonar to search the ocean floor, and planes were out looking for debris in the water. Neighbouring natural resources personnel and harbour masters were scanning the shoreline by boat and walking the shoreline looking for any type of debris. An extensive multi-agency search for the overdue fishing vessel was led by Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England. They issued an UMIB on the morning of Juen 10 to notify the public of the emergency and launched Stations Chatham, Cape Cod Canal, and Provincetown to search the fishing area within Cape Cod Bay and the location of the last known cell phone ping. Report with video: https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/missing-cape-cod-fishing-boat-seahorse-found-underwater/ Partners from the Cape Cod Mutual Response System consisting of Massachusetts Environmental and State Police, National Park Service, and local fire and police departments from Hyannis, Eastham, Wellfleet, Orleans, and Fishing Partnership along with members of the fishing community searched shorelines, marinas, and fishing piers for the vessel. Crews from the Fast Response Cutter William Sparling conducted an overnight search operation on Tuesday night, according to the press release.

Coast Guard Cutter rescued six migrants

The Coast Guard Cutter 'Richard Etheridge' repatriated 19 migrants to Cuba on June 17, 2023, following multiple interdictions of maritime migration attempts in support of Operation Vigilant Sentry. The first case was reported by the Eighth Coast Guard District, where watchstanders were contacted by a merchant vessel which rescued three Cuban nationals in the Gulf of Mexico. The migrants were transferred to Coast Guard Cutter 'Oak'. The second case occurred after a good Samaritan notified Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders of a migrant vessel approximately 12 miles south of Boot Key, Florida. Coast Guard Station Marathon boat crews arrived on scene and safely embarked one Cuban national, who was transferred onto the 'Oak' too. The third case was initiated by a Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 aircrew who notified Coast Guard Sector Miami watchstanders of a disabled center console with six persons onboard waving their arms in distress, approximately 25 miles east of Jensen Beach, Florida. Coast Guard Station Fort Pierce launched a boat crew to rescue the migrants who claimed they departed Cuba six days prior and ran out of fuel. The migrants were transferred to the 'William Sparling'. The fourth case occurred after Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders received a report of a migrant vessel four miles south of Marathon, Florida. Coast Guard Station Marathon launched a boat crew to rescue the 10 migrants onboard and transferred them onto the 'Oak'. Report with photo: https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3809848/coast-guard-repatriates-19-migrants-to-cuba-following-multiple-interdictions/