Fishing Crew Rescued Offshore After Long Night At Sea

OCEAN CITY — An Ocean City-based fishing crew spent a harrowing night offshore after breaking down last weekend, but the incident had a happy ending when a Coast Guard search plane spotted the vessel and sent help nearly 24 hours later.

Around 5:45 a.m. last Friday, Captain Chase Eberle and the crew of three on the 26-foot sportfishing boat “Duskey” left Chincoteague for the Norfolk Canyon on a late season yellowfin tuna trip. The “Duskey” arrived in the Norfolk Canyon a few hours later and already had a gaffer in the box in the first 15 minutes. After a successful morning of fishing, Eberle and the “Duskey” crew started to head back in around 2 p.m. when trouble struck.

The boat got about five miles outside the Norfolk Canyon when the vessel spun a hub on the propeller and became disabled. For several hours, Eberle and the “Duskey” crew continued to put out distress calls, but no help immediately came as the sun set and night settled in.

“We put out distress calls, but whether or not any of them were heard I don’t know personally,” he said. “We had a glassy night in the canyon and we couldn’t ask for a better night to be stuck in the canyon.”

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