Bullet-riddled US Coastguard dinghy sparks mystery

Here is another little mystery.

A bullet-riddled US Coastguard dinghy was found today drifting upturned off the West coast of Scotland.

Station spokesman Sam Jones said: “On arrival at the scene, the volunteer crew discovered and righted an aluminium 14 foot dinghy with US Coastguard certification markings. The dinghy appeared to have been in the water for some time and also had what appeared to be bullet holes through the transom and sides.
“Stornoway Coastguard was informed of the situation and the lifeboat recovered the dinghy to Tobermory. The Receiver of Wrecks has been notified.”
The crew who recovered the mystery dinghy had been on their third call out since Monday night. They had previously been called out yesterday following a report of a person in the water off the north west coast of Tiree. The person was found safe and well, having already swum ashore. And on Monday night the lifeboat was launched following a report of a large orange object floating off the Isle of Muck, 14 miles north of Tobermory.
The crew was stood down after finding a large semi-inflated orange marker or buoy approximately five miles south of the Isle of Muck. Said Mr Jones: “Fortunately this turned out to be a false alarm with good intent. We’re not entirely sure what the object is. Theories range from a ocean racing marker to a naval target.”

That wee dinghy is a long way from home, wonder how long it took to make it to Scotland, an what its story is.

Link

There isn't a Coast Guard ship out there missing it's captain, is there? Perhaps there is a USCG Bounty with a Captain Bligh strangely missing? I can't help but think of that, given the circumstances. The little craft wasn't littered with the remains of potting soil or...... Oh nvm.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all boats manufactured in the USA carry a coast guard certification similar to the CSA certification for products in Canada.

reply to post by Beartracker16


Ive no idea, but if that was the case would it mean it is just a USA made boat? there would be some red faced scots about if that was so lol.

Still interesting I think

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha


The US Coast Guard goes to Britain to train with British/Irish Coast Guard units sometimes, my guess is that it was used in practice perhaps.

Or was used for target practice in the Gulf/East Coast of the US and it hitched a ride on the Gulf Stream, which would have taken it on a direct coarse with Northern Europe. That's probably the more likely scenario, I would think anyways.

I think there may be some confusion regarding USCG certification markings and an actual USCG designation on a vessel.