JOSEPH L BLOCK

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Crew presented with Coastguard lifesaving award

The Coast Guard presented the crew of the "Joseph L. Block" with a lifesaving award in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, on Mar 12, 2016. Capt. Amy Cocanour, the Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan commander, presented the Capt. David P. Dobbins Award to Raymond Sheldon, Thomas Garvey, David Schwarz, Keith Breyfogle, Basil Friend, Joyce Greenisen, Aaron Vonsprechen, Stephen Kowalski, Michelle Fetterly, Betty Benish, Guy Curtis, Roger Long, Carlos Ledezma, Kyle Long, Jeffrey Thompson, David Morrow, Nicholas McCall, Larry Noirot, Glenn Woodford, Ronald Fey, David Deverin, Shawn Bowman, and Gary Warner for their role in saving the life of a boater in Lake Michigan, August 2015. The Capt. David P. Dobbins Award recognizes outstanding action accomplished while conducting a search and rescue mission on the Great Lakes. The ship diverted from its course to respond to a sinking 28-foot vessel 10 miles off of Port Washington, Wisconsin, Aug. 24, 2015. The crew hoisted the lone boater out of the frigid Lake Michigan water and safely onto the "Joseph L. Block", where the man was soon assisted by members of the Coast Guard and Ozaukee County Marine Division. After the presentation, Cocanour introduced a representative from Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson’s office to share a letter he wrote to the crew honoring them for their role in the rescue. Report with photo: http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2798534/

Self discharger saved man from sinking boat

The "Joseph L. Block "responded to a distress call and rescued a boater out of Lake Michigan’s waters in the morning of Aug 24, 2015, after the boater’s 28-foot vessel began to sink 10 miles off of Port Washington, Wisconsin. SAR coordinators at the Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan, in Milwaukee received a distress call just before 8:30 a.m. that a vessel was taking-on-water 10 miles east of the Port Washington pier heads. The Coast Guard launched a crew aboard a 45-foot response boat from Coast Guard Station Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and a helicopter crew aboard a Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Facility Waukegan, Illinois, to respond. The "Joseph L. Block" quickly diverted to assist the boater. The crew located the sinking vessel and found the boater in the water, wearing a life jacket and waving his arms. The crewmembers reacted quickly and were able to throw heaving lines to the person, hoisting him up out of the water and safely onto their ship. The Coast Guard Station Sheboygan's rescue boat arrived on-scene, along with the a Ozaukee County Marine boat, to transport the boater off of the "Joseph L. Block" to the Port Washington Municipal Marina to be evaluated by emergency medical services. The 28-foot vessel was towed by the Ozaukee County Sheriff's crew towards the municipal marina until the flooding outpaced the dewatering pump. Station Sheboygan's crew responded to the scene to supply an additional pump when it was determined the sinking craft had become unstable. The crew evacuated the sheriff's deputy who was on board and the vessel sank immediately after the tow was released approximately eight nautical miles east of the Port Washington pier heads in more than 350 feet of water. The Station Sheboygan crew recovered several items that had floated free of the vessel, but reported no visible pollution.

Medevac off Manitou Island

A rescue aircrew, from Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Michigan, medically evacuated a male crewmember from the "Josep L. Block" near Manitou Island, in Lake Michigan, in the evening of June 12, 2012. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan, in Milwaukee, received notification at about 9 p.m. CDT of a crewmember aboard the "Joseph L. Block", reportedly complaining of lower abdominal pain. After a conference call between the 9th Coast Guard District, Sector Lake Michigan and Air Station Traverse City’s flight surgeon, it was decided that a medevac was the best course of action. The rescue aircrew, aboard an MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter, immediately launched and met the vessel at about 10 p.m. CDT near Manitou Pass. After safely airlifting the man off the vessel, the crew transported him to waiting emergency medical services at Charlevoix Airfield. He was taken to Charlevoix General Hospital.