Helping Hand

Personnel transfers on the open ocean are rarely easy, so when a request comes for one it’s usually serious. The Coast Guard received notice recently of a sick crewmember on board a private sailboat in the West Atlantic and examined their options: a helicopter evacuation or a transfer to a nearby cargo vessel were deemed too risky. That left R/V Atlantis and its skilled crew as the Coast Guard’s (and the ill sailor’s) best bet. Atlantis diverted from its course after the Popping Rocks 2016 cruise and sent a small boat to bring the crewmember on board for treatment and transport to shore. (Photo by Lance Wills, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)