Narragansett Harbor Master, Coast Guard Rescue Nine Wednesday

NARRAGANSETT, RI— A boat with five children on board started taking on water near Sand Hill Cove on Wednesday afternoon, the Coast Guard said. Petty Ofc. Kevin Grant said the Narragansett harbormaster was on scene and took the five children on board his boat. No one went into the water. The boat, a 15-foot Boston Whaler, was overloaded and was carrying nine people. At most, six people should gave been on board, he said. But in addition to the five youngsters, four adults were also on the boat.

The trouble started around noon, Petty Officer Andrew Barresi said. "An overloaded 15-foot Boston Whaler hit a wake causing it to swamp. The Harbormaster arrived on scene first and took four children and five adults off of the boat. Our crew from station Point Judith arrived on scene and took the kids from the Harbormaster and brought them back to shore. The Harbormaster took the adults and towed the boat in. No injuries were reported and all of the children had their life jackets on," he said.

"The captain came over the back side of a wave," Grant said. "The boat pitched to one side." It was parallel to the water, and started taking on water. The boat was in the Point Judith Breachway, he said. With a lot of small boats in the area, the water can be a little choppy, he said.

"The harbormaster did a phenomenal job," he said.

The operator was cited," Barresi said. In addition to overloading the boat, he didn't have a sound signaling device, and he wasn't carrying his registration.

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