Sea Jay sinking.
Passengers and crew of the sinking vessel Sea Jay climb into a deployed life raft as a Good Samaritan vessel, the Sea Biscuit, arrives to assist them early Thursday morning. The Sea Biscuit responded swiftly to a distress call and assisted in the rescue operation. Credit: Contributed photo

Two days after a charter passenger vessel’s sinking, the U.S. Coast Guard and the California Office of Spill Prevention and Response have completed the salvage operation, including removal of Sea Jay near Santa Cruz Island, according to a statement released Saturday.

Fourteen people were rescued early Thursday after a charter sport-fishing boat struck a rock and began sinking near Santa Cruz Island, officials said.

Sea Jay sinking.
The charter passenger vessel Sea Jay sits just below the surface of the water near Santa Cruz Island, Credit: Contributed photo

At about 2:30 a.m., the Coast Guard Command Center in Long Beach received a mayday call from the captain of the 45-foot vessel Sea Jay reporting that it was taking on water near Pelican Bay, the Coast Guard said.

The captain told the 10 passengers and three crew members to abandon the boat while he anchored the vessel and released the life raft. He then boarded the raft as well.

In response, a small boat was launched from Coast Guard Station Channel Islands, and a helicopter was dispatched from Forward Operating Base Point Mugu. 

Responding to an emergency broadcast alert, a nearby boat, the Sea Biscuit, quickly arrived on the scene and began to recover the survivors, the Coast Guard said.

The Sea Jay, which was based out of Hooks Landing at Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, was fully submerged and anchored, officials said. 

With passengers and crew safe, focus turned to the recover operation, which included underwater assessment, refloating, stabilization and the safe transfer of the vessel to harbor, Coast Guard representatives said.

“Our partnerships played a crucial role in the swift response and safe recovery and removal of the vessel. At no time during any phase of the operation were recoverable hydrocarbons present,” said Coast Guard Capt. Ryan Manning, the federal on-scene coordinator. “These actions have successfully mitigated any potential threat to public health and the environment.”

The Coast Guard initially said a sheen had been reported in the vicinity of the vessel, and the boat’s diesel fuel tanks had a total capacity of 220 gallons.

The U.S. Coast Guard, OSPR and all participating agencies said Saturday they had concluded recovery operations.

The Coast Guard will continue working with partner agencies to investigate the cause behind the grounding and sinking.

— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.