Charter boat suffers engine room fire off Gloucester, Massachusetts

US Coast Guard personnel successfully rescued 40 people aboard a fishing charter boat after it suffered an engine fire off Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, July 7.

At approximately 08:40 local time, Coast Guard Station Gloucester received a call on channel 16 that the fishing charter vessel Yankee Patriot II had a fire on board and requested immediate assistance.

Station Gloucester then launched three of its assets, two Motor Life Boats (MLB) and a Response Boat Small (RB-S). The Gloucester Harbormaster also launched a vessel to assist.

Once on scene, crews from Station Gloucester were able to safely transfer all 40 passengers on Yankee Patriot II onto the two MLBs, taking them safely back to Station Gloucester with no injuries reported.

Once all passengers were on land and the fire on Yankee Patriot II was extinguished, all four response vessels then escorted the charter boat safely back to their homeport at the pier in Gloucester.

The coast guard said the charter boat was still able to sail under its own power despite the damage caused by the fire.

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