JONESPORT, Maine — A boat that was under the command of a U.S. Coast Guard officer who was relieved of duty last week is being evaluated for damage after it ran aground last month off Petit Manan Point.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Christopher Bouchard was on board and in command of the 87-foot vessel Moray on Feb. 20 when it struck an underwater bar between Petit Manan Point and Petit Manan Island, according to Petty Officer 2nd Class LaNola Stone of the Coast Guard’s public affairs office in Boston. Stone said Monday that no one on board was injured and that the Coast Guard still is assessing the extent of damage to the vessel.
Stone declined to say whether the incident was one of the reasons that Bouchard was relieved of duty, but Coast Guard officials said Saturday that Bouchard “lost confidence in his ability to navigate the cutter safely and to lead his crew.”
Without going into specifics, Stone said that there has been more than one instance in which Bouchard, a 15-year veteran of the Coast Guard, is suspected of not having followed standard procedures.
“It wasn’t just one incident,” she said.
Bouchard has been reassigned temporarily to the Coast Guard base in Southwest Harbor. A final decision about whether he will be permanently removed from his duties or resume command of the cutter will be made by the commandant of the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., Coast Guard officials have said.
Stone said the Moray had 11 people on board at the time it ran aground. She said it is being towed by the Coast Guard cutter Reliant to a Coast Guard shipyard in Baltimore to be thoroughly examined. How long the vessel will be out of service has not been determined, she said.
The Coast Guard is not sending another vessel to Jonesport to take the Moray’s place, Stone said. Other vessels from Coast Guard facilities in Boothbay Harbor, Eastport, Rockland, South Portland and Southwest Harbor can be sent to respond to situations along the Maine coast if needed, she said.
