The Coast Guard rescued a 68-year-old man after his 15-foot vessel became disabled with limited means of communication aboard early Tuesday morning in the North River between Currituck and Camden counties.
Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City was contacted by local authorities about the disabled mariner Monday at 11:27 p.m., who said that the mariner had only 30 minutes of battery left on his cell phone with no other means of communication aboard his vessel.
A 29-foot Response Boat-Small II boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Elizabeth City was launched to respond.
Once on scene, the Coast Guard boatcrew took the man and his disabled vessel in tow, and brought them to the N.C. Wildlife boat ramp in Coinjock, where the man was then picked up by his wife.
“It’s always best to have two, three, even four different means of communication onboard your vessel when you’re out on the water.” said Lt. j.g. Magen Bloch, command duty officer at Coast Guard Sector North Carolina command center.
“Cell phones can be unreliable with reception and battery issues, so we always recommend having a VHF marine radio onboard, since the Coast Guard continuously monitors channel 16 for distress calls,” Bloch said.
