VIDEO: Coast Guard rescues crew from shrimp trawler grounded off Outer Banks

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer from Station Elizabeth City is lowered into the ocean as the F/V Bald Eagle II flounders in the surf off Southern Shores, N.C. on Dec. 7, 2021. [photo courtesy Katie Morgan/Instagram]

The Graveyard of the Atlantic is trying to claim another victim, after a shrimp trawler grounded off Southern Shores in rough seas Tuesday morning and four members of its crew were airlifted by a Coast Guard helicopter.

The F/V Bald Eagle II, a 78-foot-long steel hulled trawler from Wanchese, washed into the breakers off East Dogwood Trail in Southern Shores around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday after first running into engine trouble and then a net snagged the propeller.

Despite dropping anchor, the boat drifted southward to near Dolphin Run by 9 a.m. and then came to rest near Trout Run in the vicinity “Y” intersection of N.C. 12 and Ocean Trail by midday where it remains for now.

Winds were out of the north at 20 to 25 knots, with wave heights of 4 to 6 feet at the nearby Duck Pier. High tide was at 9:30 a.m.

“The water temperature near Southern Shores is currently 56 degrees, which is dangerous had these four men not been prepared,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Timothy Hall, operations unit controller for Sector North Carolina. “Fortunately, these men were wearing survival suits to prevent hypothermia when our rescue helicopter arrived.”

Video shot by Kristine Kiousis shows a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter from Station Elizabeth City lifting a rescue swimmer and a crewmember from the F/V Bald Eagle II out of the surf.

Video courtesy Katie Morgan:

“We are coordinating with the vessel’s owner with a plan for freeing the vessel,” said Petty Officer First Class Stephen Lehmann with U.S. Coast Guard Fifth District Public Affairs.

Video courtesy Frankie Powers:

The grounding comes a week following the grounding of a trawler off Frisco, when the F/V Jonathan Ryan lost power after a net became entangled with its propeller last Monday morning.

The F/V Jonathan Ryan was able to be towed back to sea without incident later in the afternoon.

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Sam Walker was news director for OBXToday.com, Beach 104, 99.1 The Sound, Big 94.5 WCMS and Z 92.3 from August 2011 to March 2022.