WATCH: The Halifax-based schooner Liana’s Ransom’s engine failed and the mainsail got tangled on the mast. As Mike Armstrong reports, that was when the U.S. Coast Guard staged a daring rescue.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued nine crew members of a Canadian replica pirate ship after the vessel’s engine shut off off the coast of northern Massachusetts early Monday morning.
According to the Coast Guard, the Canadian tall ship “Liana’s Ransom” was rescued roughly 93 kilometres east of Gloucester around 12:35 a.m. after Sector Boston’s Command Centre received a notification that the ship’s engines were disabled and it’s sails were wrapped around the mast.
As the weather deteriorated and with seas reaching nearly 3 metres, two 14 metre motor lifeboats tried to tow the vessel back, but the rough conditions caused the tow line to break. The nine crew members were then directed to abandon ship and climb aboard the motor lifeboats, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
One of the nine crew members hurt his head leaping from the vessel and was airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital by Coast Guard helicopter diverted from Air Station Cape Cod.
“It was fortunate for the crew of the vessel that the owner reached out to us,” said Jay Woodhead, the command duty officer at Sector Boston’s Command Center, in a statement.
Liana’s Ransom was headed for Saint Martin in the Caribbean after recently undergoing repairs, according to the ship’s Facebook page.
A locator beacon was left on the vessel for tracking and the Coast Guard is evaluating whether it’s possible to tow the ship back to port.
According to a website for the tall ship, Liana’s Ransom is an 85 foot, steel hulled schooner built in Houston, Texas in the spring of 2005. The ship sailed to Nova Scotia in the fall of 2006, completing the 2500 nautical mile voyage in 20 days
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