Coastguard Commander denies vessel almost sank

Coastguard Commander Brenton Cain has denied that a coastguard vessel that was moored in the waters near the coastguard base in Calliaqua almost sank on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, this publication reported on its Facebook page that Coastguard officers stationed at the Calliaqua Coastguard base {{more}}were on Saturday alerted by civilians, after one of their vessels anchored in the waters around their base took on water and began sinking.

The post further stated that quick action from the officers with advice from some civilians helped stop the vessel from sinking.

But on Monday, when contacted by telephone, Commander Cain denied that the vessel almost sank. “This is not true. That is not an issue. That never happened and that is how the boat sits in the water,” said Cain.

But one man who observed the situation last Saturday from the vantage point of Howard’s Marine boat yard in Villa, told SEARCHLIGHT on Monday that in his opinion, if one of his friends had not called the base and informed the officers on duty what was going on, the boat would have sunk.

“I was going to call, but I realized I did not have any credit, so another man call them and tell them,” said the man, who declined to give his name.

He said that he and three other men were in the boat yard when they saw the boat sitting unusually low in the water and they realized that the two-engine vessel was sinking slowly.

“After we call, we see some officers run out with buckets and start bailing the boat out. After, they brought a truck and tied a line to it and pulled it out of the water and it was like a river was flowing out of the boat,” said the witness.

He stressed that he is accustomed to boats and he thinks that the only reason that the boat did not sink more quickly is because of rubbers on the side of the vessel.

When told that Cain had denied that the boat was sinking, the man said that it was probably embarrassing that the officers on duty were not the ones to see what was happening and that civilians had to call it in.

“If we didn’t call, I think that boat would have been at the bottom of the sea, so they might feel a little shame,” said the man.

The vessel has since been removed from the water.(LC)