Life vests, a digital selective calling distress signal and a local commercial fisherman brought a safe rescue for a group of 22 including fourth-grade students, their teachers and chaperones when a Chesapeake Bay Foundation tour boat sank near Bloodsworth Island, Md., Wednesday evening.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region picked up a DSC signal with the identity number of the 40’ Karen N., an aluminum shallow-draft, water jet powered vessel that the non-profit Chesapeake Bay Foundation operates for research and educational excursions out of its Karen Noonan Environmental Education Center at Bishops Point, Md. The DSC notification was followed by a distress call on VHF channel 16: “Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is the motor vessel Karen N. We have sunk off of Bloodsworth Island.” The watchstanders then lost communication, according to the Coast Guard.
Watchstanders put out an urgent marine information broadcast, and directed boat crews to launch from the Coast Guard Station at Crisfield, Md., while Maryland State Police were notified and launched two helicopter crews and state Natural Resources Police boat crews headed to the remote area.
A local waterman, Jeremy Shockley of Toddville, Md., piloting the 35''x10'6"x4' boat Lady Ka-Kee, was closest. He picked up the 22 passengers from the Kent School, Chestertown, Md., and the captain and brought them to a boat ramp at Wingate, Md., for evaluation by emergency medical services. All were taken to an area hospital and later released, including the captain who suffered a head injury.
Authorities are looking into the likelihood that the Karen N. struck a submerged object. The waters around Bloodsworth Island were used as an aerial gunnery and bombing range by the Navy beginning in 1942 and remained littered with old military equipment, including some World War II-era M-4 Sherman tanks.
Lt j.g. Issac Yates, a command duty officer at the Coast Guard Maryland center, said the right equipment on the Karen N. helped ensure a safe return for the school group.
“As soon as we received the DSC alert we knew their exact position,” Yates said. “All 22 persons in the water were wearing their life preservers. That greatly enhanced their survivability.”
