Salem Ferry Tried Rescuing Stranded Whale Watch Passengers

Nathaniel Bowditch - the boat that serves as the Salem Ferry - was sent out to sea on Monday night in an attempt to help rescue passengers aboard a stranded whale watch boat, according to U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said the Nathaniel Bowditch was directed to the area of the stranded 83-foot passenger boat Cetacea to attempt to transfer the passengers at about 9 p.m. Monday.

The Cetacea’s propeller became tangled in a line and was stuck about 15 miles off the Salem coast at about 4 p.m., according to the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard said Tuesday that Cetacea’s propeller did not become tangled in a rope associated with a lobster trap - as was initially believed - and instead was a cable from Northeast Gateway’s Deepwater Port offshore facility. Northeast Gateway is a “buoy-based offshore receiving facility” for liquified natural gas, according to its owners, Excelerate Energy. The gas then makes its way to shore via Algonquin Gas Transmission’s HubLine pipeline, which travels under Beverly Harbor.

In the end, a transfer of passengers from Cetacea to Nathaniel Bowditch was not possible on Monday evening because of the “dangers of an at-sea night operation,” according to the Coast Guard. If a passenger transfer had happened, it is not clear whether all of the 163 whale watching passengers and crew would have fit onto the Nathaniel Bowditch, which holds 149 passengers.

That’s when Boston Harbor Cruises, which owns Cetacea and operates the Nathaniel Bowditch, provided additional water, food and blankets to the passengers. Just after 5 a.m. on Tuesday, divers from the vessels Bunker Hill and Scarlett Isabella freed the line and Cetacea headed back to Boston.

What had started as a three hour whale-watching trip at 1 p.m. on Monday ended after 19 hours at 8 a.m. at Long Wharf in Boston.

The Coast Guard said it will investigate what led to the whale watch boat becoming tangled in the line.