<< Back   

INTREPID...helping to save lives!


The Hingham Harbormaster received a call on Friday evening from 5 girls out in a boat on the harbor. A thick fog had rolled in and they could not find their way. They found a buoy to latch on to and called the Harbormaster. The Harbormaster was trying to track them down using his horn, but without any luck. Charlie Souther (new Deputy Chief) heard what was going on and had them call 911. They were able to get their coordinates from the 911 call, plugged them into Intrepid, and were able to find the girls. They were all OK.





Continued story from The Hingham Journal:
Boat tied to buoy Quick thinking by a group of teenage girls could have prevented a more serious incident at sea, Lt. Michael Peraino said. Last Thursday (July 20) at 10:15 p.m., the harbormaster’s office received a call about a stranded powerboat with five teenagers aboard. The girls had left the Hingham Yacht Club, boated over to Weymouth waters, and were on their way back when a fog bank rolled in and they go lost and had no idea where they were, Peraino said. But, thanks to good thinking, the girls tied the boat to a red buoy in the channel and called the harbormaster on their cell phone. Assistant Harbormasters Ken Corson and Mike Hickey responded by boat and talked with the girls over the cell phone while trying to locate them.

The assistant harbormasters sounded the siren and asked the girls if they could hear it and if it sounded like it was getting closer, Peraino said. But the assistant harbormasters were also having trouble in the dense fog. The assistant harbormasters then came up with the idea of having the girls dial 9-1-1 on their cell phone because emergency cell phone calls are routed to the State Police which has a GPS tracking system. The girls asked the State Police for their coordinates, and radioed those to the assistant harbormasters, who notified the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard located the girls who were able to follow the Coast Guard boat to Pemberton Pier in Hull. "It is nice to know that GPS can be activated in cell phones," Peraino said. "People, who go boating or hiking should take their cell phone along."Peraino explained most cell phones manufactured in the past three years have a GPS tracking device installed. "The girls in the boat did the right thing," Peraino said. "They tied the boat up to a buoy and called for help."