February 25, 2016 — Five Coast Guard officers sent to rescue the crew of a fishing boat faced their own emergency early Thursday when their vessel capsized in treacherous conditions off the Rockaways, officials said.
The tables were turned on the Guardsmen as they tried to save a 76-foot scallop trawler from Virginia that was being hammered by 10-to-12-foot waves and taking on water near the East Rockaway Inlet, according to officials.
The commercial fishing vessel — dubbed the Carolina Queen III — had been searching for sea scallops in the mid-Atlantic region just south of Long Island, which would have been on the plates of New Yorkers if it wasn’t for the bad weather.
Fighting gale-force winds and heavy rain, the Coast Guard’s 25-foot, twin-engine response boat was dispatched from Station Jones Beach to rescue the seven man crew after receiving an urgent distress call at about 2 a.m. saying they were having mechanical issues and had lost power.
But as the Coast Guard members tried to save the fishing vessel, which eventually ran aground, the powerful surf proved to be too much for them — and their boat overturned at about 4:45 a.m. near the Silver Point Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, officials said.