Two rescued from 49-foot sailboat off Hatteras

Two sailors were rescued Monday after their 49-foot sailboat began taking on water about 30 miles east off Cape Hatteras.

A crew member aboard the Devil Slander contacted the Coast Guard at about 3 a.m. to report that the boat was disabled, adrift and taking on water.

Watch standers diverted the the cutter Block Island, which was on its way to the Coast Guard yard in Baltimore, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The crew aboard the sailing vessel lit a flare to show its position. Also helping was a good Samaritan aboard the sailing yacht Islandia, which was around Cape Hatteras.

“The crew of the Islandia spent more than three hours communicating with us and the Devil Slander in a selfless effort to locate and assist the distressed sailors,” said Ens. Paul Junghans, a crew member aboard the Block Island and the officer of the deck during the search and rescue case. “The contributions of civilian mariners, like the crew aboard the Islandia, in cases like these are absolutely invaluable and greatly appreciated by the Coast Guard.”

A team from the Block Island was launched aboard the cutter’s small boat to help the sailors. Two crew members boarded the Devil Slander and were able to control the flooding using an emergency dewatering pump they brought with them.

The flooding damaged the sailing vessel’s electrical system, which kept the engine from starting and prevented the use of the electronic auto-furl sails, the Coast Guard said.

Towing was handed off among Coast Guard boats in an effort to get the Devil Slander to Beaufort, where the inlet is best suited for the vessel’s 7-foot draft and 75-foot mast, the Coast Guard said.

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