A U.S. Coast Guard service member vaulted onto a speeding unmanned vessel and brought it to a halt on the Severn River near Annapolis last week after its operator was thrown overboard.
The boater was “ejected” after executing a high-speed turn, said Matthew West, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard, but was immediately rescued by his son, who was trailing behind on a jet ski. The boater was evaluated and there were no medical concerns.
The Coast Guard Station Annapolis was alerted to the incident just after 9 a.m. Thursday and was able to stop the boat about an hour later, the spokesperson said.
In videos shared widely across social media, the captain-less boat is seen erratically rocking back and forth as it motors around in circles. The USCG Annapolis team’s boat is seen following closely.
The videos then show James Fulton, a Coast Guard service member, jump aboard the unmanned boat, gain control and stop it.
Fulton said that while his training doesn’t include wrangling runaway vessels, it “just made sense” for him to hop aboard.
Fulton, who has been in the service for nearly 10 years, said this was the third time he’s made this kind of rescue and warned that the incident could have been prevented if the boater had an engine cut-off Switch, or ECOS, link clipped onto himself.
Federal law requires the operator of a boat under 26 feet with an installed ECOS to use the ECOS link. The link is usually a coiled bungee cord lanyard clipped onto the operator’s person and will turn off the engine if the operator is separated from the boat.
The Maryland Natural Resources Police, which is in charge of the investigation into the incident, said the runaway vessel is 28 feet. While it doesn’t fall under the federal law, the department still recommends that boaters travel with an ECOS link, said spokesperson Gregg Bortz.
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