EASTPORT, Maine — U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Calais Station, during maritime boat operations, assisted the U.S. Coast Guard in two separate boat rescues along the Washington County, Maine coastline recently.
The first event took place on June 16 near Stueben, Maine in Pidgeon Hill Bay. Border Patrol agents assigned to a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) vessel responded to an emergency call of a fire aboard the F/V Knee Deep. A Coast Guard crew was fighting the fire when the AMO vessel arrived and the F/V Knee Deep crew had been moved to another fishing vessel. The Coast Guard requested the AMO vessel escort the F/V Knee Deep to its home port due to draft restrictions on the Coast Guard vessel.
The second event took place on June 19 near Lubec, Maine in South Bay. A Border Patrol vessel crewed by Border Patrol agents, a CBP officer and a Coast Guardsman responded to a request from the Coast Guard to assist a sailboat that radioed a distress call. When the Border Patrol vessel located the sailboat it was in danger of being blown onto the rocks. The Border Patrol vessel crew was able to transfer the three occupants of the sailboat to the Border Patrol vessel and secure a towline to the sailboat. The Border Patrol boat crew safely towed the sailboat back to their home port.
“These two rescues illustrate the keen maritime cooperation between Customs and Border Protection and our Coast Guard partners to save lives at risk and enforce our nation’s laws on our waterways. It also serves as a reminder of the dedication Customs and Border Protection agents and officers demonstrate to serving our community, be it on the land or on the water,” said Patrol Agent in Charge Todd Smith of Calais Border Patrol Station.
For more on Customs and Border Protection’s mission at our nation’s ports of entry with CBP officers and along U.S. borders with Border Patrol agents, please visit the Border Security section of the CBP website.