< Back to front page Text size – +

Disabled lobster boat to reach land Saturday

E-mail|Link|Comments () December 18, 2009 02:12 PM

By Shana Wickett, Globe Correspondent

A Coast Guard cutter and the disabled Gloucester-based lobster boat it is slowly towing through the wintry seas are expected to reach land by Saturday morning.

The cutter Escanaba is towing the Michael and Kristen about 50 miles offshore, Coast Commander Edward Westfall said in a conference call with reporters this morning.

The 77-foot Michael and Kristen, which had five people aboard and was nearly 200 miles southeast of Nantucket, reported engine power loss around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Another fishing vessel, the Rachel Leah, began towing the boat, and the Escanaba arrived around 9:30 p.m.

After the towline broke Thursday morning, the Escanaba began towing the boat to land at a speed of about 4 miles per hour through 10-15 foot swells and 38 mile-per-hour winds, the Coast Guard said Thursday in a statement. There are more than 100 crewmembers aboard the Escanaba.

The Escanaba reached a speed of 5 to 6 miles per hour Thursday night and is monitoring the incoming snowstorm expected to hit Cape Cod and the islands Saturday evening, Westfall said.

While the harbor to which the boat will be towed is undetermined, it will most likely be turned over to another 77-foot vessel and towed into Provincetown Harbor, said Jeff Hall, a spokesman for the Coast Guard in Boston.