TOPSY TURVY S.O.S.
Coast Guard boat flips in Rockaway rescue
Five Coast Guard officers sent to rescue a fishingboat crew faced their own emergency early Thursday when their vessel capsized off the Rockaways, officials said.
The Guardsmen’s 25foot twinengine response boat flipped amid galeforce winds and heavy rain near the East Rockaway Inlet at about 4:45 a.m., forcing all five of the men to swim to shore, officials said.
Dispatched from Station Jones Beach, they were responding to a distress call from the Carolina Queen III, a 76foot scallop trawler that had stalled and was taking on water amid 10 to 12foot waves, officials said.
The trawler, from Virginia, ran aground. Its sevenman crew was rescued by a HH65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City.
Neither the officers, who swam ashore near Beach 19th Street, nor the fishermen, who were airlifted to Jamaica Medical Center, were reported injured.
The Seaford Scallop Co., which owns and operates the Carolina Queen III, refused to answer questions.
Officials said the trawler was “pushed to shore” by the waves and currents after losing power. The Coast Guard boat capsized near the Silver Point Beach Club in Atlantic Beach.
The Rockaways had been under a gale warning Wednesday night as downpours and 34 mph winds battered the area.
Drew Minkiewicz, attorney for Fisheries Survival Fund, which represents the scallop industry, said the Carolina Queen III was trawling off Long Island at depths of 100 to 200 feet.
Robert Vanasse, head of Saving Seafood, an advocate for domestic seafood, said the vessel’s catch likely would have ended up on New Yorkers’ plates.
“There is no question that those scallops would have made it to the finest markets and restaurants in New York City,” he said.
Plans were under way to remove both the trawler and the Coast Guard boat.