Original subtitles

- [Narrator] In this episode

of "Coast Guard Mission Critical."

In Florida, a day out on the ocean

turns into a medical emergency,

when a man suffers a life threatening injury.

(patient groaning)

- He was in a lot of pain, screaming, yelling.

- It's gonna hurt.

It's gonna hurt, there's no doubt.

- [Narrator] As a storm rolls into the Florida Keys,

a sailboat captain is disabled 20 miles off shore.

- It was horrible.

It was pitch black.

(boat crashing)

- Make sure we don't get caught between

the sides of the boats.

We don't lose fingers or break bones.

- [Narrator] And in the east Pacific Ocean,

a boat found hundreds of miles off shore

raises reasonable suspicion.

- They doused the whole boat in fuel.

A lotta fuel.

(dramatic music)

- [Radio] Mayday, Coast Guard, mayday!

- [Radio] Roger Captain,

we have assets en route to your position, over.

(dramatic music)

- You, now!

(dramatic music)

- [Coast Guardsman] Get you out of here, okay?

(dramatic music)

(yelling)

(hand banging)

(dramatic music)

(helicopter blades whirring)

(boat revving)

(dramatic music)

- South Florida Air Station Miami,

really busy unit.

A lot of training flights.

A lot of law enforcement.

A lot of SAR and medivac.

It's real, real dynamic.

We were out on our training flight.

A beautiful, beautiful Saturday morning.

Just out flying around, doing some approaches to the water,

just some training.

Every day you come to work, you come on duty,

you don't know what you're gonna do.

You know you're going on a training flight,

but that training flight could turn

real exciting real quick.

- Bon, bon, bon, bon, bon, bon.

All stations, this is United States Coast Guard

Sector Key West.

The Coast Guard has received report

of a 39 foot blue Hydra Sport with a injured person on board

in the vicinity of Islamorada.

All mariners are requested to keep a sharp lookout, break.

This is United States Coast Guard

Sector Key West Florida, out.

- Call came in from the Sector Command Center,

saying that there was somebody who had taken a bad fall.

- [Radio] 6548 Sector, roger.

Be advised it's a medivac on a 39 foot Hydra-Sport.

He was in the water and he got knocked down by the swells.

That's all the information that we have.

And then, he had ah, he appears to have a floating rib,

that it's moving around on his side.

The flight surgeon said they are concerned.

He does also have a neck injury.

- We knew a Coast Guard vessel was already on scene.

And a lot of times, the vessel is the safest way

to transport someone.

Hoisting is dangerous in and of itself,

even when you have ideal conditions.

The floating rib or the broken rib

is definitely a concern,

but when we hear neck injury,

and we think of someone riding in a boat,

and we think of someone riding in a boat on choppy seas,

that's something that we don't wanna mess with.

And so, that's when we think the helicopter's a good asset

to bring into that type of situation.

- [Radio] Sector Key West, Sector 48.

We are on scene.

We're about to commence hoisting with the recreational vessel

at this time.

- So, once we get on scene,

we do a overflight of the vessel,

trying to get good references on for hoisting anything

that could be a possible snag hazard while we're hoisting.

- We checked out the boat first of all

and we saw how small it was.

So, our first concern was where we're gonna put

our litter down to get the patient up.

- [Narrator] The litter is a large flat stretcher

used to immobilize survivors so they can be safely hoisted

to the helicopter.

- [Jared] One of the small boats

from Small Boat Station Islamorada was on scene already,

which actually aided us tremendously.

- Anytime we have a sister station on scene,

those guys are professionals.

Just knowing that they have the basis

of understanding how hoisting works,

and tending trail lines, it's a time saver.

- [Eric] So that's a huge help when we have crews

from a good station like Islamorada

we can work with.

- [Narrator] Rescue swimmer Jonathan Foss

will be lowered down to execute the hoist.

To guide both the rescue swimmer and the litter safely,

a trail line is lowered to the Islamorada crew.

- I'm getting hoisted to the bow.

The boat is dead in the water.

It's a little more of a

challenging hoist for our pilots.

- [Radio] Low check, please.

Swimmer's going down.

Swimmer's going down.

Swimmer's going down.

- [Narrator] During hover,

the rotor blades of the helicopter

move at over 300 revolutions per minute,

producing hurricane-force winds.

- [Radio] Swimmer's halfway down.

Swimmer's going down.

- As soon as we get overhead of the vessel,

it tends to blow them in a direction

that we may or may not want them to go.

- [Narrator] While suspended in midair,

the swimmer's life is in the hands of the pilots,

the flight mech, and the person holding the trail line.

- Stabilization only works when you have someone

at the bottom that's pulling

and someone that's capable of keeping that line taut,

and keeping that line steady,

and being able to keep the device on its way down stable.

- [Radio] Swimmer's on deck.

Swimmer is disconnecting from hook.

Swimmer is okay.

- So, when I see those guys on scene,

and I know that I'm safer in better hands.

(wind blowing)

- Yeah.

- No.

- All right.

- The patient was already lying on his back

on a extended lounger cushion,

and the idea was to literally pick him up with the cushion

and place him in the litter,

but with the tight space, we had to alter that.

I had to remove some pads from the litter

to get it next to him,

and we realized that we were gonna have to roll him

to his side and roll him onto the litter.

- [Narrator] But with the piece of the man's rib broken

and floating in his body,

any movement can cause the fragment to shift,

causing immense pain and further internal injury.

- Will you help me--

- Roll him over?

- Yeah.

(patient moaning)

What's the, whoa, whoa, whoa?

- Trying to get the blanket out?

- What's wrong?

- [Patient] It hurts.

- I mean, it's gonna hurt.

It's gonna hurt, there's no doubt.

I know that it's very painful,

but I have to do certain things.

I try to give him enough heads up of what I was doing

and how long it was gonna take.

We're gonna basically get him up enough

to push this under him.

All right, ready?

One, two, three.

(patient moaning)

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Off the Florida coast,

search and rescue teams from Air Station Miami

and Station Islamorada are rescuing a man

with a broken, floating rib and a possible neck injury.

- When we hear neck injury,

that's something that we don't wanna mess with.

And so, that's when we think the helicopter's a good asset

to bring into that type of situation.

- The patient, he was in a lot of pain, screaming, yelling.

He was not comfortable whatsoever.

- I have to do certain things.

I try to give him enough heads up of what I was doing

and how long it was gonna take.

Yeah, we're gonna basically get him up enough

to push this under him.

- All right, okay.

- All right, ready?

One, two, three.

(patient moaning)

There we go, there we go.

Nice job.

Nice job.

(helicopter blades whirring)

Keep breathing deep, breathe deep.

So after we strapped him into the litter,

I made a conscious effort to splint his chest,

if he did have any rib fractures.

- Hang in there, brother.

- [Jonathan] I gotta strap them in.

(patient moaning)

Do you want them strapped in?

Okay, hold them together.

I notice that moving him to the forward part of the vessel,

where I was hoisted to, was probably not the best option.

So, using the boat crew that remained on scene with me

during this evolution,

I knew that I was gonna depend on them

with helping tend the trail line

while I held the litter as strong as I can

to keep it from swinging or getting caught up

under the overhead of this center console vessel.

- [Radio] Hold your position here, sir.

- [Radio] Roger.

- [Radio] Now ready for pick up.

Prepare to take the load, take the load.

(helicopter blades whirring)

Survivor coming up.

They're halfway up.

- [Radio] You're clear back.

That's remove back of that.

- [Radio] Five feet below cabin.

- As the patient was at the door,

we did hear the patient moaning,

and I would say extreme discomfort.

- [Radio] Survivor's right below cabin door.

- I'm trying to be as careful as possible,

gentle as possible, bringing him inside the cabin.

- [Radio] Survivor is at cabin door.

- [Jared] Definitely don't wanna be

bumping him off of anything,

try to make this a little bit better for him,

a little bit more comfortable for him.

- From my perspective,

I could tell this guy was very uncomfortable,

very much in pain.

My thinking was we need to get him in the cabin,

put in a position that we can bring the swimmer up

as quickly as possible, and then get going.

- Once again, it's great having the boat crew on board,

on station, to tend that trail line,

ensure that the rescue swimmer was nice and stable,

in terms of coming back up to the helicopter.

(helicopter blades whirring)

- We don't know what his internal injuries are,

so we wanna get him to the hospital as quickly as possible,

to a higher level of care,

where the surgeons and the doctors can take care of him.

- Myself and the flight mechanic had to slide him

out of the aircraft, which is a task in itself,

walk him around the helicopter with its blades turning,

and onto the gurney that the staff brought out.

- Knowing that you've picked somebody up,

you have a survivor in the back of your helicopter,

you've taken him to a hospital,

and now he's alive and going back to his family

because of what you and your team did,

that's the greatest feeling in the world,

and that's exactly why I became a pilot

and fly for the Coast Guard.

(crew talking in background)

- [Narrator] Meanwhile, in the east Pacific Ocean,

the Coast Guard Cutter Munro

is on a three month deployment.

Its mission is to stop elicit contraband

from entering the United States.

Commander Joe Meuse leads the Coast Guard

Tactical Law Enforcement Unit, known as TACLET.

- Munro is a new class of ship for the Coast Guard.

It's a national security cutter.

It primarily is designed to deploy

significant distance off shore

doing counter drug operations.

The Coast Guard will request personnel

to go onboard the ship.

In this case, Petty Officer Bashe and Petty Officer Romo

were handpicked to go on the Munro

because of their LE training and capability,

and because of the nature of the mission,

the high risk nature of the mission

that the Munro was gonna be involved in.

- [Narrator] To find potential targets of interest

in known drug trafficking areas,

the Munro deploys advanced SUAS drones.

- We're trying to find a needle in a needle stack.

We can be 700 miles away from a case,

eight, 900 miles away from case,

and we just start driving.

- The Coast Guard's been conducting

counter drug operations for several decades now,

and through that experience,

we've learned what types of vessels,

which routes they run, and really what to look out for.

Our authorities are under USC Title 14,

which allow us to conduct law enforcement on the high seas.

- It's a Panga-style boat, two outboards,

and they have something on board.

- It could be trash or it could be contraband.

We'll find that out.

- [Narrator] The target of interest is stationary

in a known drug trafficking area.

- They're both under the tarp.

I think they were sleeping.

- [Narrator] Suddenly, the target of interest takes off.

- I have enough RS right here on the TV screen.

I have no addition nationality vessel underway

making way international waters, tarped, two POB.

- We use things like traveling at a high rate of speed,

northbound direction, the type of craft they're using

to collect some of that reasonable suspicion

to then conduct the boarding.

- We need a pursuit song right now.

- [Crew Member] They're already set up.

- They already got our pistols?

- Yeah.

- We got boarding kit and everything on that?

- My job is to facilitate the boarding.

- When we get on board,

as soon as we grab them, get them down,

we can restrain them.

Frisk them, then call POSCON.

- Right.

- I would like if we can,

two people to get on at the same time.

- And then, just as we're doing that,

call in BISS complete.

We'll knock it out.

- [Narrator] The Munro crew launches

their helicopter interdiction tactical squadron,

known as HITRON.

- [Crew] Act ready!

(crew yelling)

- [Narrator] The boarding team launches in a 26 foot

Over-the-Horizon pursuit boat.

- We encounter a go-fast vessel at sea,

we're gonna use every means that we can

to actually communicate with them.

(helicopter blades whirring)

We'll use calls.

We'll use loud healers,

both from the helicopter, from the ship.

We'll use radio broadcast.

We'll use every means that we have.

We're gonna give them the opportunity to stop and explain,

hey why are they traveling at a high rate of speed

in the middle of the ocean, and evading us.

- Este es la Guardia Costera de los Estados Unidos!

- When those methods fail,

we then shift to higher levels of use of force

to get them to comply.

(helicopter blades whirring)

- [Radio] All right, they're non-compliant.

Prepare for warning shots.

- [Radio] Roger that.

Clear forward.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] In international waters,

the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro,

alongside the TACLET team members

have spotted a boat traveling at high speed

in a known drug trafficking area.

- We'll use radio broadcast.

We'll use every means that we have.

We're gonna give them the opportunity to stop and explain,

hey why are they traveling at a high rate of speed

in the middle of the ocean, and evading us.

- Este es la Guardia Costera de los Estados Unidos!

When those methods fail,

we then shift to higher levels of use of force

to get them to comply.

(helicopter blades whirring)

- [Radio] All right, they're non-compliant.

Prepare for warning shots.

- [Radio] Roger that.

Clear forward.

(wind blowing)

- [Radio] Let's fire.

- [Radio] Let's fire, one stitch.

Two stitch.

Three stitch.

Check fire, warning shots complete, lights out.

- They didn't do what they were supposed to do,

so we had authorization to disable their engines.

- Got them on the clear and they're underway again.

- [Radio] Roger, let's prepare for disabling fire.

- [Radio] Roger that, forward disabling fire.

(gun firing)

- Our folks who do disabling fire,

who shoot out of the helicopter,

have years of training under their belt,

so they're able to do that effectively and safely

without endangering the crew.

- [Narrator] The HITRON sharpshooter

takes out one motor.

- After HITRON does warning shots disabling fire,

we get the go ahead to take positive control

while they have cover for us in case something bad happens.

- [Narrator] The crew of the suspect vessel

decide to stop running and shut down their remaining engine.

- Este es la Guardia Costera de los Estados Unidos!

Manos en tu cabeza!

Manos en tu cabeza!

- Good, good.

- Now, over, over!

Get over!

On your stomach. - Turn around, turn around!

Swap out?

- Yep, yep.

- Mira aquí.

C'mon up.

- Weapons?

- Pistola? - Weapons?

- Pistola? - Pistola?

- No. - No.

-Sí.

- Something in his pocket.

- Inside out? - Yup.

- Nada?

- Nope.

Solo mi bailletera

- [radio chatter] O-30, O-30 ice cube...

- Donde esta el capitán?

Capitán?

- We have positive control.

Doing the BISS.

- Roger.

- When we got on board,

there was like 30 or 40 barrels of fuel.

They doused the whole boat in fuel.

Is this fresh paint?

A lotta fuel.

They use that fuel sometimes to cover up their tracks

because they know we have tools to track to see

if they are, or at one point had drugs on their vessel.

- Hey, hand the lighter.

Give him the lighter.

Put the lighter on.

- And your cigarettes?

- Two suspects on board, put them in handcuffs.

Made sure the boat was safe to be on,

wasn't taking on water.

- [Narrator] While the boarding team maintains

positive control of the suspect's vessel,

(crew yelling)

the second team launches from Munro.

(boat revving)

- Whoo, good job Kate.

Que estabas haciendo ahí afuera?

- He said they have another partner, they were fishing.

He doesn't know where he's at.

- [Michael] They were fishing?

- Yes.

- Ask him where his fishing gear is.

Dónde está to equipo de pesca?

Lo estamos buscando

- And what kind of fish?

- They were here to get the fishing gear and...

Que tipo de pesca?

- No, vinimos a buscar a pareja.

Pero, qué tipo de pescado?

- Vinimos a buscar a pareja.

- They came to get a partner that he was gonna give them

the fishing gear.

- Where's he at?

-Donde esta tu pareja? - It doesn't matter.

We got the outboard part done.

- Oh yeah. Yo no se?

- Yo no lo vi.

- Yeah, of course.

- No puedo encontrarlo.

- Ice cube BO, radio check, 107 handheld, over.

(radio crackling)

- Ice cube BO again.

Three times asked.

They did not claim nationality for the vessel.

They are Mexican and they departed Mexico one day ago.

- Give me three.

You seen the hull?

You seen the hull?

Dude, look at this.

I've never seen this before.

- [Narrator] In the Florida Keys,

a storm is brewing off shore,

bringing in high winds and rough seas

that can wreak havoc to even the most experienced sailors.

- Hey, we got something.

Does not know where he is, he's disoriented.

- Does he know where he is?

- He has no idea where he is.

He has no power.

- I'm gonna go ahead and plot this,

and I'll be able to give you a geographic location.

- [Crew Member] Roger.

- [Narrator] Sector Key West is able to ping

the captain's cell phone and plot a search area.

- Coast Guard 33132, this is Coast Guard Sector Key West.

Sailing vessel is in position 24-43.830 North.

- [Narrator] The sailboat is trapped

in four to five foot seas,

20 miles off of Marathon Key, Florida.

- Nighttime case, so we're already at the heightened risk.

With that, you're thinking worst case scenarios.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] In the Florida Keys

a storm is brewing offshore

and a sailboat is dead in the water.

- [Man On Phone] I am in trouble.

The engine stopped.

My electronics are down.

I don't know where I am.

(wind howling)

- The boat crew got under way.

Nighttime case, so we're already

at the heightened risk with that.

- There's a disabled sailboat 20 miles offshore.

They're getting beat up pretty bad.

We're gonna go out there to remove them

off the vessel and bring 'em back to a safe haven.

- We didn't know who or how many people were on board.

We just know we needed to get there pretty quickly.

(boat engine roaring) Yes.

- The weather was horrible.

It was 25 to 30 knots the entire time.

It did not slow down, which made it horrible with the waves.

It did not slow down, which made it horrible with the waves.

- Vessel in distress, vessel in distress,

this is coast guard sector Key West.

What is your number of persons on board?

Over.

- Luckily, we were able to see the light off the sailboat

when we got close.

- You got a VHF radio?

You go to 22 Alpha?

- It was pretty nasty conditions.

The captain was down below

and we had to hail out to him on channel 16

in the loudhailer to get him to come out and talk

and make contact.

And then we ended up making contact on 22 Alpha.

- Yeah so right now we're on scene

with the 38 foot, disabled sail boat.

Right now we're probably in a sea state of two to threes,

20 to 25 knot winds.

We're trying to just get in contact with him

over the VHF radio.

With the wind it's gonna be easier

to understand him over the radio.

And then we're gonna set up a game plan

to extract him off his sailboat

and get him into safe harbor.

- [Narrator] The storm has completely

disabled the sailboat.

- As the anchor line's takin' tension

waves are crashing over the bow.

And then as the waves move towards the stern

the stern's pretty level with the water as well.

It's not looking good for the sailboat.

- [Narrator] In the east Pacific Ocean

the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Munro

and the TACLET team members are in positive control

of a suspicious vessel.

At first glance, the boat contains no contraband.

But the situation raises reasonable suspicion.

- When we got on board,

it was like 30 or 40 barrels of fuel.

They doused the whole boat in fuel.

- What the f--

- Is this fresh paint?

A lot of fuel.

- They use that fuel sometimes

to cover up their tracks because they know

we have tools to track to see if they are,

or at one point, had drugs on their vessel.

- 33.

You seen the hull? You seen the hull?

Dude, look at this.

I've never seen this before.

Just looking for indicators

that their might be hidden compartments

inside the hull.

I've never seen that batwing before

underneath the back of the,

on the stern of the panga, so that intrigued me.

Just kinda interested to see what happens.

Lotta fuel on deck.

But we'll see.

- The thing about these pangas is they all have false decks.

The question is, is this false deck

between this deck and the keel,

is that full of something?

I skew vo,

all gasoline containers are full of gasoline, over.

- Okay, roger that.

Right now they've claimed that this vessel is Mexican.

That enacts an operational procedure between

the U S and Mexico to say,

Hey guys, can you confirm, is this your vessel?

Can take a couple hours,

so that's what we're waiting on scene for right now,

if they come back and determine,

Hey, we can't say that, that is our vessel.

We'll get permission to conduct a full early boarding

or full sweep, a more invasive search of the vessel

to determine if there is in fact, any contraband onboard.

We a secured their electronics

just for the safety of the boarding team.

We ask them where their cell phones, their GPS are

asked him to turn them off.

He said that his cell phone was in a compartment

and said it was okay if we went and got it.

Hey,

(whistles)

- How do you say telephone?

- [Boarding Officer] Teléfono.

- Teléfono?

- [Boarding Officer] Señor, este es tu teléfono?

- Cellphone?

- Que es eso?

- Crystal, crystal meth?

Crystal meth?

- We asked them what they were, and one guy was like,

that's crystal meth, and that's cocaine.

- [Narrator] With growing suspicion,

the team performs tests on the surface of the boat,

but the results are negative.

It's now been five hours after boarding the vessel.

When the team gets word from Mexican authorities,

- Mexico makes a call and says,

Hey, we are denying, this is our vessel.

And go ahead,

you have permission to do what we need to do.

- Ice cube VO requests,

10 minimally intrusive searches throughout the vessel,

due to reasonable suspicion factors, fresh paint,

tools on board to cut into fiberglass, Over.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] 20 miles off the Florida keys,

a storm has completely disabled a sailboat.

- As the anchor line stick in tension

waves are crashing over the bow.

And then as the waves move to towards the stern,

the Sterns pretty level with the water as well.

It's not looking good for the sailboat.

- The boat has been disabled, the engine won't start

- We're going to set up a game plan,

to extract him off his sailboat

and get them into safe Harbor.

- Sir, would you be opposed to letting us tow you back,

closer to marathon?

You won't have comms with anybody once we leave.

- So ,I would at least like to bring you closer

to where you could have comms or you know

that way you're not stuck out here again by yourself.

- Are you going to be able

to get your anchor up by yourself.

- First plan of attack is we're going to try to get

the sailboat into a hip tow,

get side by side and hook it into hip tow.

- I got the boat hook.

- Got it.

- And then get pressure off the anchor line

and then pull his anchor line in

and then transition him into a stern tow

and then tow him back to station.

We're gonna have to watch out for all of his rigging,

his railing, make sure we don't get caught between

the sides of the boats.

We don't lose fingers, lose arms or break bones.

(boats rattling and creaking)

- Is it made?

- The biggest thing that I have for me is

that I don't want anybody on my boat to get hurt.

I try to minimize that at all cost.

(boat engine revs)

- Right side one!

- It was horrible.

It was pitch black.

You couldn't the only time you ever saw anything

is if you were on the bow,

because of the port starboard light and his lights.

Other than that, you didn't see anything.

(boats crash) (waters splashes)

(metal clanking)

- [Narrator] Rough seas

are making the maneuver too dangerous.

The coast guard is forced to disconnect from the sailboat,

and try to abort.

- Go ahead and disconnect?

(wind whooshes)

(gushing water)

- Whoo!

I couldn't hear him at all.

We tried a few things and nothing seemed to work.

We couldn't get on the same page with the captain.

We couldn't get on the same page with the captain.

- I'd leave a good bit out so when we hook it up

we can leave out a lot of Slack.

We're getting like a lot of water on the back deck

and its causing our line to float.

- Give it to them Foltz, give them the fender.

- Pass, this is the biggest shackle we got.

- We are going to pass you a line with a shackle on it

you can put it on your anchor line and then I could

slide that down your anchor,

and just tow you from your anchor.

I'll transfer one of my personnel.

This what's gonna happen.

I'm a pull long side, you're gonna get over.

- All right.

- There we go ,I'm gonna go over onto the sailboat

and we're going to hook up.

What's called a de anchoring shackle.

It's basically a big shackle that goes

around their anchor line and it goes down to the anchor.

And when we start taking tension on the tow line,

it will lift the anchor and, we'll be able to tow from it

- [Narrator] Crew member, Nicholas Sweet,

must Now board the sailboat.

The plan is simple.

Get the two vessels close enough for him to jump.

- It's gonna be a little,

little dangerous with a given sea state where it's,

we're seeing us getting worse.

we're probably experiencing four to five foot seas now.

- I was trying to, you know, time, the waves just right,

to where, when I came alongside it,

nothing happened, I didn't get smashed up against the boat

- Him stepping over was ,it had to be timed perfectly

he had to commit, the moment he thought it was best.

- My cockswain has to really get the boat in position quickly,

but effectively , so that I can do a safe transfer

and not fall between the boats get crushed

- Heads up on the boat!

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] In Marathon Florida.

A sailboat captain is in peril off shore,

completely disabled by a storm.

- We're probably experiencing four to five foot seas. Now

- [Narrator] To bring the vessel to safety.

The search and rescue crew needs

to attach a tow line to the sailboat.

So this what's gonna happen

I'm gonna pull along side, you're gonna get over.

- I'm gonna go over onto the sailboat

- [Narrator] Crew member, Nicholas Sweet plans to jump

from one boat to the other.

- I was trying to, you know, time,

the wave it was just right,

to where when I came alongside it, nothing happened.

I didn't smash up against, the boat

- My ccockswain has to

really get the boat in position quickly,

but effectively so that I can do a save transfer

and not fall between the boats get crushed.

- Him stepping over, It had to be time perfectly.

He had the commit the moment he thought it was best.

- [Narrator] Sweet waits for the perfect time to jump

one wrong move, and he could be crushed

between the two boats.

- Heads up on the boat!

-I'm over!

- Now, I need you to give him Slack

when you pass that line over, all right?

- Yeah I got you, I got you.

- You ready on deck Foltz?

- Raedy on deck!

- Roger.

Sweet, you're already on deck.

- As the boat is coming up.

I can see Foltz is ready to make his first throw

- I have a shot -Take it

- Heads up on the boat! -left of the bow.

(radio chatter)

- Got it!

- [Watson] Shackle is connected!

- [Foltz] Shackle is connected!

Sweet, is it clear?

- Its clear.

- Roger

[inaudible]

-Own it homes

-Yup...own it

-Got it? -Yeah got it

- The vessel is sideways.

- Is that shackle tending is it sliding down or no?

- I can't see it.

It looks like it.

- I wanna get behind the helm with the sailboat because

with sailboats, the rudder

will wildly shift back and forth and they like to kinda

go into the surf, as they, you know, rock and roll.

- What, the towed vessle?

- Or it was.

Yeah its diving hard nose deep.

- There are a few times where, we're taking swells

and it's ripping the helm out of my hands.

- She's turning not straight on with us pretty well

- Back behind the helm, I'm having to

really manhandle the helm and with the sea state,

it's actually making it really difficult to keep it in line.

So you have to hold onto that helm.

So the rudders not shifting, you know, port starboard.

That way, it doesn't create a dangerous situation

during the tow and potentially capsize a sailboat.

- Whoa!

She's down, she's nose down all the way under.

She went like two, three times all the way in

- If the boat capsized, the, then you're now hooked up to

a, boat that's being capsized

and can potentially pull you under,

or, you know, worst case scenario

is you lose your crewmen on that sailboat.

- Right know I gotta keep an eye on him.

So that cockswain can focus on keeping in contact

with our crew member on board and get us back safely.

- So as we get in back into Marathon,

we're literally a few hundred yards away from shoreline

. It's a lot calmer than it was 20 miles off shore.

It was calmed right off shore Marathon.

We anchor them up.

- All lines on board.

Including shackle.

- Now that,we see that he's ah, in position

and that he's holding he safe.

He has enough electrical power to make it through the night

on hopefully a towboat will get out to him in the morning.

And so we're cleared to come back to station

(boat engines idling)

- [Narrator] Back in the Eastern Pacific ocean

suspected drug runners are being detained

while coast guard law enforcement

confirm their boats nationality.

- Que es esto?

- Crystal ,crystal meth.

- We asked them what they were.

And one guy was like, that's crystal meth and that's cocaine

- [Narrator] With growing suspicion.

The team performs tests on the surface of the boat,

When the team gets word from Mexican authorities.

- Mexico, makes a call and says, hey,

we are denying, this is our vessel.

And go ahead and you have permission

to do what we need to do.

- Ice cube VO requests, 10 minimally intrusive searches

throughout the vessel due to reasonable suspicion factors,

fresh paint tools on board to cut into fiberglass, over.

(drilling noises)

- so far. We have no joy,

(drilling noises)

- Aqua

- We drilled five holes.

All five have been unsuccessful,

two hit water and the other three just came up empty handed

- Ice cube via Roger. we've drilled

eight minimally intrusive searches.

We've checked with the bore scope.

Nobody on board believes that there is any contraband,

beneath the primary deck ,over.

- [on radio] Roger

- Sometimes we'll find vessels running drugs,

or they've already done a delivery and they've returned it

- You know, they're out here,

hundreds of miles from the nearest port of land

with no means to get back,

unsafe vessel, no tow points, no navigation lights,

outfitted for smuggling.

But because we didn't find anything.

We will take them on board and we will repatriate them,

through some means with Mexico.

But right now they're SAR survivors,

search and rescue survivors.

They are not detainees.

They have done nothing wrong that we could find.

- Overall, the actual mission of the Munro

payoffs for Bash, payoffs for Romo was a huge success.

- There is no agency,

better suited than the United States coast guard

to lead in the maritime domain.

These cutters are the flagship

of the coast guards, modernized fleet.

- [Narrator] It's the end of the Munro's 90 day deployment

In total the Munro seized,

over four tons of drugs in three months,

- when you come back From a 90 day patrol

and you're like, man, we got four tons of cocaine

That speaks volumes

- Just their presence, you know, reduces the amount

of drugs that are gonna flow into this country.

- We all serve for different reasons,

but over my 36 plus year career,

I have found that we all share the same desire

to take care of our shipmates, protect our families

and safeguard the American dream.