Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Coast Guard First District
Press Release Date: June 24, 2008
Contact: Petty Officer Etta Smith
(617) 223-8515
**UPDATE** Maine schooner re-floated after running aground
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BOSTON- A Coast Guard boat crew helped to re-float the Sylvina W. Beal around 11 p.m., Monday night near Indian Island, New Brunswick, Canada.
The Eastport-based sailing vessel had run hard aground with 41 passengers and three crewmembers aboard around 6:30 p.m., Monday.
No injuries or pollution were reported.
A 41-foot boat crew from Coast Guard Station Eastport responded to the distress call and evacuated the vessel's passengers, Monday.
As the 80-foot sailing vessel began to re-float around 12 a.m., with the rising tide, the crew discovered the vessel had taken 1,500 gallons of water in the center and aft compartments.
A crewmember from the Station Eastport boat, which had remained alongside for assistance, boarded the vessel with a dewatering pump to help control the flooding.
Fishing vessel High Maintenance, a 40-foot lobster boat from Eastport, transferred two additional dewatering pumps from station Eastport to the Sylvina W. Beal to help dewatering efforts.
Another lobster boat from Eastport, the 45-foot Soldier Boy, assisted the grounded vessel by tying a line off to the schooner's mast to provide support as the vessel righted itself.
Around 12:40 p.m., Monday, the High Maintenance took the schooner in tow and pulled it from the rocky shore. By 1 a.m., the tow had been transferred to the crew of Station Eastport and dewatering efforts had been completed.
The Sylvina W. Beal is currently tied up at the Eastport Boat School where Coast Guard marine inspectors will conduct an investigation regarding the cause of the grounding and to assess the damage to the vessel.
"The schooner ran aground about half a mile into Canadian waters," said Lt. Lisa Tinker, the command duty officer at Sector Northern New England.
She said the Sector coordinated the rescue with the Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"This case gave us the opportunity to implement the formalized agreement we have with Canada regarding search and rescue cases," said Tinker.