August 22, 2016 — While it may have been the three-hour tour described in the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song, it was a happier ending for 34 passengers touring the seas around Cape Ann.
The Coast Guard says the captain of the 37-foot Cape Ann Harbor Cruise boat King Eider began issuing mayday calls shortly after 4:30 p.m. Saturday after the vessel began taking on water at the rate of 5 gallons per minute. The boat was in the area of Brace Cove, outside of Gloucester Harbor.
“I heard the mayday call for a boat with 34 passengers and I thought, ‘This ain’t good,’” said Capt. Kevin Twombly of the Lisa & Jake, based out of the Cape Ann’s Marina Resort. Twombly was returning from a chartered trip fishing for haddock and cod with a “couple of folks” and was coming around the Back Shore when he heard the call.
“I just went in there, and when I saw what the situation was, I just hooked ’em up,” he said.
The Lisa & Jake, a 40-foot charter fishing vessel, was the first on scene at 4:40 p.m., followed by a Coast Guard motor life boat crew from Station Gloucester and two boats from the Gloucester Harbormaster’s Office, the Coast Guard said. Boats from the Massachusetts State Police and Gloucester Police Department also assisted.