STURGEON BAY — U.S. Coast Guard Station Sturgeon Bay crews launched multiple crews Friday evening for reports of two separate incidents of vessels in distress.
In once incident, a boat ran aground and was taking on water and leaking fuel and oil off Horshoe Bay near Fish Creek.
In the other incident a vessel went hard aground on Pirate Island, one of the Strawberry Islands between Peninsula State Park and Chambers Island.
In a social media post, the Coast Guard said they launched a 45-foot response boat from Washington Island and a 29-foot response boat from Sturgeon Bay.
The first rescue boat arrived in Horseshoe Bay and immediately placed the vessel in tow and transferred two crew members on board to do damage control and dewatering, plugging and patching several holes and keeping enough water out of the boat to keep it afloat.
The Canal Station launched the the other rescue boat, and once on scene near Pirate Island, they safely evacuated four people from the aground vessel and took them to Fish Creek.
“Many thanks to our OGA partners at Wisconsin DNR and Gibraltar Fire Department for the rapid assistance and great job U.S. Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan for running comms and oversight for the entire evolution,” read the Coast Guard’s post.
