NEAH BAY — After nearly five hours of late-night work, the Coast Guard helped a fishing vessel into Neah Bay after it began taking on water.
The Coast Guard received the call at about 11:35 p.m. Saturday that the Sundown, a 40-foot fishing vessel, was taking on water.
Another fishing vessel, the Vicious Fisher, helped the crew to safety before the Coast Guard arrived.
An HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Port Angeles and two 47-foot motor lifeboats from Station Neah Bay went to assist.
The effort took until about 4:30 a.m., involving five dewatering pumps, before the vessel was safely moored in Neah Bay, the Coast Guard said.
The Vicious Fisher towed the Sundown to Neah Bay with the lifeboat crews following as a precaution.
The Sundown is still in Neah Bay waiting for its owner to evaluate the damage.
No one was injured.
The Vicious Fisher was itself helped by Coast Guard Station Quillayute River in December.
Benjamin Gillock, 24, of Birch Bay went overboard, and Coast Guard personnel searched for more than seven hours about 20 miles off LaPush.
The search was suspended the next day, and Gillock was presumed to have died.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladaily news.com.
