The Coast Guard rescued a man from a boat that was taking on water near the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel early Friday morning.
It was not the boater, but his wife back at home, who called for help around midnight. USCG Station Portsmouth crews. The woman said her husband’s boat’s battery had died, his cell phone was dying, and his boat was taking on water.
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — U.S. Coast Guard Station Portsmouth crews rescued a man after his wife reported his vessel was taking on water near the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads in Portsmouth received a call at about midnight that a woman’s husband had called her to say his boat’s battery had died, his cell phone was dying and the boat was taking on water.
Watchstanders launched a 29-foot Response Boat crew from Station Portsmouth to assist. With the help of information from the man’s wife, crews found the man, who was keeping the boat afloat using a hand pump, but was adrift.
The Coast Guard took the man aboard and towed his boat back to shore. The man was not hurt.
“Because the individual told his wife where he was going to be, filed a float plan, our crews were able to quickly locate and assist the man by narrowing the search area,” said Petty Officer First Class, Rachel Davis, duty watchstander at Sector Hampton Roads.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
