LAFD - Sinking Vessel - Coast Guard mutual assist

LAFD Fireboats responding to assist Coast Guard with Sinking Vessel
*UPDATE: * Inside breakwater. No injuries. Vessel - The American Pride, a 130-foot Tri-masted schooner to home port in Long Beach- [ www.americanpride.org ]

The American Pride, a 130-foot tri-mast schooner
Vessel Photo credit: www.americanpride.org

Cal Fire News - 1:05 PM Los Angeles fire department is responding to Coast Guard mutual assistance call for a sinking 130' vessel 6 miles south of Los Angeles Lighthouse, 40 persons aboard. LAFD anticipates dewatering effort in rough seas

*Sinking Vessel* 6 miles south of LA Light; TG Ocean; FS 112, PRELIM: 130 foot (unk type) ship with 40 persons aboard;
LAFD anticipates dewatering effort in rough seas
Comms: LAFD Com Ch: 7,2 tac: LAFD Tac Channel 12 assigned

LAFD Blog: On Friday, October 5, 2007 at 1:05 PM, 2 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 2 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 3 LAFD Fireboats, 5 LAFD Helicopters, 1 Battalion Chief Officer Command Team and 1 Division Chief Officer Command Team under the direction of Battalion Chief Richard Elder, responded jointly with the U.S. Coast Guard, Long Beach Fire Department and L.A. County Fire Department Lifeguard Division to a Sinking Vessel 2+ miles outside the Port of Los Angeles breakwater.

Summoned by a Marine Radio distress call, Los Angeles Fireboat crews, bolstered by their land-based colleagues and LAFD Helicopters, responded to a point more than 2 miles offshore in rough seas to encounter the American Pride, a 130-foot tri-mast schooner with 40 persons aboard.

According to witnesses, the 66 year-old wood-hulled tallship had begun taking on water during an education voyage with student sailors from a Pasadena, California high school aboard.

Los Angeles Firefighters joined allied agencies in supporting the dewatering operation of the boat's crew, as they offered comfort and reassurance to the life-vest clad teens while the boat made its way slowly inside the breakwater with both students and Firefighters aboard.

No injuries were reported.

Once inside the breakwater, the vessel was safely guided to her home berth in the Port of Long Beach by Long Beach Fire Department and U.S. Coast Guard personnel.

AP News story:

Tall ship with children aboard takes on water off Long Beach

The Associated Press

Article Launched: 10/05/2007 01:38:19 PM PDT

LONG BEACH, Calif.—A three-masted tall ship with 42 children on board took on water off Southern California on Friday but managed to re-enter port under its own power after pumps were placed aboard.

The 130-foot American Pride reported the trouble about 12:30 p.m., Coast Guard Lt. Andrew Munoz. It was not immediately known how much water was taken on or what caused the problem.

Children in life jackets could be scene on deck in a view from a KCAL-TV helicopter overhead as emergency craft escorted the schooner into the Port of Long Beach.

The trouble occurred when the ship was about 8 miles south of Long Beach and numerous rescue craft were dispatched. Rescue crews managed to put pumps aboard, Munoz said.

The ship is operated by the nonprofit Children's Maritime Foundation of Yorba Linda. It was taking a group of 42 schoolchildren back from a weeklong trip to Santa Catalina Island, said a woman who answered the foundation's telephone but hung up without giving her name.

According to the American Pride's Web site, the schooner was built in 1941 and was used in commercial fishing off New England before being totally rebuilt in 1986. It was ultimately bought by the American Heritage Marine Institute and in 1996 was sailed through the Panama Canal to its current port at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach.

It advertises charter sailings, whale-watching and other trips.