A whale struck the Carteret Fire Department boat Marine Unit 2 near the mouth of Raritan Bay on Friday, badly damaging the vessel and forcing the crew to abandon it. The firefighters aboard got off safely, and Mayor Dan Reiman called it a “harrowing experience.”
Marine Unit 2 was returning to Carteret waters around 4:30 p.m. Friday after assisting with a regional special operations marine security detail in the New York/New Jersey Port area. The Carteret Fire Department said every firefighter aboard was wearing a life jacket when the whale breached beneath the stern and the boat started taking on water.
Marine Unit 2 and the rescue
The damage came fast. The Carteret Fire Department said firefighters had only seconds to leave the vessel after the strike caused catastrophic damage. A nearby recreational jet ski operator and another boater helped, and Members of the Perth Amboy Fire Department’s marine unit arrived and helped rescue the crew from the water.
The department said the incident left those involved shaken, but everyone returned home safely to their families. That immediate rescue kept the story from becoming worse: the boat was lost, but the crew was not.
Raritan Bay whale strike review
A nearby recreational vessel reported seeing multiple whales breaching before and after the collision, but officials have not identified the species of whale involved. It was also not clear whether the animal was injured. The circumstances surrounding the incident remain under review.
For now, the Carteret Fire Department Marine Unit is dealing with a vessel loss during a holiday assignment, and the unanswered question is the simplest one left by the crash: what species struck the boat beneath its stern?
