MYSTERIOUS CHATHAM MAYDAY CALL: Resources scramble from as far...

CHATHAM – As you will hear and see in the following HN Video, sometime before 8:45PM last evening, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified of a mariner in distress mayday call from somewhere in the area of Pleasant Bay.

Resources from Cape Cod fire departments were requested to respond and Hyannis Fire Department immediately launched the “Senator Kennedy,” their “Class A” Fire/Rescue vessel.

Firefighters were well aware that at this time of year, with boats hitting the seas for the first time since last season, that a mariner in distress is a very real possibility. Unfortunately, firefighters also realize, that sometimes these “mayday calls” turn out to be accidental and even outright malicious “pranks” in some cases.

The mayday call was “pinged” or estimated to be in the area of Pleasant Bay in Chatham. Captain Nelson Wirtz of the Chatham Fire Department acknowledged that search efforts focused on that area first, but because pinged signals are not necessarily precise in that part of the Cape, that the area could actually be from Chatham waters all the way up toward Boston waters.

Firefighters assisted with immediate searches from shore, as well as by sea…

The U.S. Coast Guard had a helicopter hovering over Pleasant Bay when HN arrived on scene at about 9:30PM…

The search was said to have continued on Tuesday during the daylight hours, but was eventually called off after a search of the area in question revealed no signs of any distress mariners…

Without further information, officials have no idea as to whether further search efforts are warranted.

The following HN Video highlights the call and illustrates resources from Hyannis joining the search…

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