Two lobstermen were rescued off Wasque early Thursday morning after their boat began taking on water.
The 44-foot lobster boat Bill B II grounded around 5 a.m. near Muskeget channel due to an unknown cause, according to Coast Guard reports. No injuries were reported.

The summer crowds and seasonal yachts have left Menemsha and were replaced this week by a 55-by-185-foot barge and crane for construction of the new U.S. Coast Guard boathouse.

The large barge arrived Tuesday night in Menemsha harbor, tugged in by the Jaguar of New Bedford and the Patrick J. Hunt of Narragansett, R.I.

“It’s finally here, which is a great thing,” said Lou Vinciguerra, project manager for the Coast Guard boathouse.

Construction for the new U.S. Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha will begin early next month, the Coast Guard announced on Tuesday.

According to a press release, construction on the new 5,000 square foot single-bay boathouse will start the week after Labor Day.

The 911 call came at about 6:45 p.m. that a person was in the water off Great Rock Bight and in distress. Chilmark and Aquinnah police, Coast Guard station Menemsha and Massachusetts Environmental Police all responded. Two people were pulled from the water and transported to Menemsha to waiting EMS.

Its sweeping beam has guided mariners to safety and cast long flickers of shadow and light across the westernmost edge of the Vineyard for many decades.

But now the Gay Head Light is slated for a lantern change, and in the process the beam will change from sweeping to pulsing.

Lieut. Matthew Stuck of the U.S. Coast Guard aids to navigation branch said recently that the Coast Guard plans to replace the optic rotating light with a flashing LED light sometime in the next few months. The current optic, installed in 1989, is outdated and replacement parts are scarce, Mr. Stuck said.

It takes five minutes for the crew at U.S. Coast Guard Station Menemsha to walk from main headquarters to the search and rescue vessel. Five minutes may seem like a short time, but add drysuits, anti-exposure and flotation coveralls, boating tools, supplies, artillery and sometimes protective vests, and a five-minute walk can feel like a lifetime.

Absent a boathouse where all their gear and supplies would normally be kept, Coast Guard crew members make this laden walk several times a day.

Beneath a billowing American flag and light breeze off the harbor, Buddy sat in salute at the U.S. Coast Guard Station Menemsha early Monday morning, chest proudly puffed, ready for his next treat.

The three-year-old golden retriever was sworn in as a seaman recruit by Senior Chief Jason Olsen at a special enlistment ceremony. With the duty crew standing behind him, Buddy became a rank and file member of the Menemsha team.

Coast Guard rescue crews medically evacuated a 13-year-old boy Saturday afternoon, after Martha’s Vineyard Hospital alerted the Coast Guard that no medical flight crew was available to transport the boy to a mainland hospital.

An Air Station Cape Cod MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew was launched and safely transported the injured boy to Massachusetts General Hospital. The boy was suffering from a severe groin injury.

Armed with cameras, plans and ideas, prospective contractors for a new U.S. Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha toured the historic fishing village last week to visit the site of what will be, once built, the largest structure in the harbor.

The project went out to bid this spring. Four prequalified contractors responded to the Coast Guard’s request for proposals, and last Wednesday those contractors, along with nearly 20 of their subcontractors, walked the property in Menemsha with the agency’s design team.

Watchstander

Ron Walsh of Edgartown has been certified as a qualified communications watchstander at the United States Coast Guard Station Menemsha. Watchstanders monitor several Coast Guard radio channels for distress calls and dispatch Coast Guard search and rescue vessels.

Mr. Walsh, a member of the Martha’s Vineyard detachment of the Coast Guard auxiliary, underwent eight months of training to become a watchstander. Mr. Walsh is also qualified as a Coast Guard auxiliary vessel examiner.