Coast Guard crews were kept hopping this weekend, responding to two distress calls from pleasure boats off Martha's Vineyard.

The motor semi Islander struck submerged rocks moments after leaving the Oak Bluffs wharf at 9:15 Wednesday morning and began taking on water through five holes ripped in her hull. But the vessel’s captain, Antone Jardin, wrestled the foundering ship back to port, averting a major disaster and possible sinking of the ship.
The cause of the mishap is under investigation by the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety office in Boston, but Coast Guard officials said yesterday it appears that a previously unplotted rock in the channel may have caused the damage. Earlier reports that a key buoy had drifted out of place were discounted by the Coast Guard and Steamship Authority officials.

Every morning, members of Coast Guard Station Menemsha head down to the West Dock, past the old fishing shacks on Basin Road, to begin their day’s work. The station’s 23 members hail from all over the country.

Coast Guard members from around the region gathered in Menemsha Thursday morning to inaugurate the Island’s first volunteer flotilla in 35 years. Timothy Carroll is the commander of the 18-member volunteer flotilla 11-9.

A team from Coast Guard Station Menemsha helped free a leatherback turtle entangled in fishing gear south of the Vineyard early Friday morning.

A U.S. Coast Guard investigation into the sinking of a the fishing boat Robert C. Monday afternoon off Dogfish Bar at the western end of the Vineyard, remains open and active, according to a Coast Guard spokesman The owner of the sunken vessel reportedly has decided not to salvage the 33-foot wooden boat, which went down in 40 to 50 feet of water after colliding with another fishing boat.

Seaman apprentice Coco, a three-month-old chocolate Labrador mix, is the newest member of the Menemsha Coast Guard station. With a new puppy in residence, it's all hands on deck for training.

The U.S. Coast Guard formally opened its new boathouse in Menemsha Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The new Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha harbor is on track to be finished early next year. The three-story concrete structure is fire-resistant and can withstand earthquakes and 100-year storms.

The men and women of Coast Guard Station Menemsha agreed that June Manning's exemplary spirit of giving and "just because she's June" merited some small town, down home recognition.