The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Coast Guard vessel Captain Hugh Mulzac has returned to base in Calliaqua after floating off the reef on which it ran aground in Union Island Thursday night.
In a statement on Saturday, the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, of which the Coast Guard is a part, said that the vessel came off the reef at Clifton Harbour, Union Island, under her own power during high tide at 9:55 p.m. Friday.
The statement said that the vessel was secured alongside the Coast Guard Base, Calliaqua, and an underwater inspection of the hull was to be conducted to assess the impact of the grounding.
“The crew members are in good spirits, and the Coast Guard Service wishes to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who reached out, including its regional and international counterparts, during this unfortunate incident,” the statement said.
In a statement on Friday, the police force said that the vessel ran aground at 9:05 p.m. Thursday while “approaching a jetty”.
The grounding occurred in an area of the Clifton Harbour where two of three navigational lights have not been functioning for some time, residents of the island have told iWitness News.
Several attempts by an inter-island ferry to pull the Coast Guard vessel off the reef on Friday had failed.
The absence of navigational aids in the Grenadines has been a challenge for mariners for some time and was raised in Parliament in August, when Minister of Grenadines Affairs and Seaports, Senator Benarva Browne, said they would be addressed.
Capt. Hugh Mulzac, an offshore patrol vessel, was commissioned in January 2019 after the government bought it second-hand.
The Damen SPA 4207 vessel, along with works done to accommodate it at the Calliaqua Coast Guard Base, cost taxpayers almost EC$18 million.
The vessel, which has the hull number “SVG 01” and call sign J8CM, is 42.8 metres (140 feet) long, has a beam of 7.1 metres and a draught of 2.5 metres.
It has a capacity for 18 crew and four guests.
The maximum speed is 26.5 knots (49.1 kilometres per hour) and a range of 1,800 nautical miles.
The vessel can remain at sea for 14 days.