Nancy McAllister to the Rescue

Recently, the team at Portland Tugboat were enlisted on a daring rescue mission. The 81’ groundfish trawler Three Girls caught fire 100 miles off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The crew issued a mayday call to the US Coast Guard and had to abandon ship. Capt. Brian Fournier, President of Portland Tugboat, received the call seeking assistance and his first thought was “do I not only have the equipment but most importantly the crew to engage in this type of rescue?” He called in one of his most experienced crews and prepped them on the assignment. Capt. Jake Forgit, Mate Peter Roderiguez, Chief Engineer Ian Brushwein and Deckhand Aoi Daggett boarded the 4,000 hp Nancy McAllister and left Portland, ME in search of the burning vessel.

One of the most challenging aspects of the job was in locating the Three Girls. The tug and crew left at 2100 on Monday and steamed overnight toward the estimated location of the trawler. According to Captain Forgit, “We were given two possible locations for the vessel based on drift and the fact that when the crew abandoned it was still in gear going 3 knots in reverse. When we arrived at the first location she wasn’t there, and we kept getting mishits on the radar. I had multiple crew members using binoculars to try and find her. After about an hour we got a consistent target with the radar and we set a course to intercept the vessel.” The Nancy and crew finally met up with the burning trawler at 1100 on Tuesday.

Now a really challenging part of the job was beginning. How to safely proceed in hooking up a tow line to a burning vessel in order to be able tow the trawler back to shore. The trawler had large outriggers with chains dangling on both sides, so getting close to the vessel was extremely demanding. Once the Nancy was in position, Aoi Daggett manned the fire hose and said, “I tried to pump water directly down the stack of the Three Girls, so I could target the fire in its engine room”. Once the fire was tamped down, Peter Rodriguez donned turnout gear and boarded the distressed vessel. Peter said, “Hooking up the tow was extremely challenging. I was able to jump on the burning vessel, get the tow line secured and quickly return safely to the Nancy”.

The next 24 hours were equally demanding. Under tow, during their return to shore, the tug and crew were met by 4’ waves and they had to reengage with suppression efforts as the fire reignited aboard the trawler. The Nancy arrived in Portland with the still burning vessel on Wednesday morning. They were met and escorted by the US Coast Guard, Portland fire boat and the tug Andrew McAllister. Upon arriving in the harbor, the Nancy hipped up to the trawler and pushed her stern first to Deake’s Wharf. Engineer Ian Brushwein remarked, “Hipping up to a vessel is normal procedure for us, but doing so while the vessel is on fire is an experience I won’t forget.” This was the only way to proceed safely to the dock, unfortunately due to this positioning the flames were reoxygenated and took off once again. The Nancy proceeded to push the Three Girls to the pier and had her all fast at noon on Wednesday. The Andrew stayed on scene to assist the Portland fire department as they battled the fire for another 3 ½ hours.

Captain Fournier was extremely grateful and proud of the extraordinary work performed under challenging conditions by the crew. “They performed exemplary. Every part of the job was safely handled by these individuals with pure professionalism and determination. If the trawler sank in the busy shipping lanes of the North Atlantic, it would’ve been a real hazard to navigation. Due to this crew’s efforts in recovering this vessel, they helped prevent this tragedy.” Bravo to these brave men for an amazing job!