77-foot shrimp boat runs aground in Ormond Beach

ORMOND BEACH — A 77-foot commercial shrimping boat out of Key West ran aground on Ormond Beach, giving beachgoers a close-up gaze at the 150-ton vessel Tuesday morning as the U.S. Coast Guard worked to get it pulled back out of the sand.

The shrimping boat, named the AMG, was reported taking on water and ran aground just north of the Cardinal Drive beach approach about 8:23 p.m. Monday, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. 

[NEW ON WEDNESDAY: Shrimp boat beached in Ormond to be boarded by Coast Guard]

[READ MORE: Pilot survives plane crash into ocean off Daytona Beach Shores]

A picture showed what appeared to be an outrigger possibly propping the boat up so that it would not fall over.

A tug crew from Jacksonville has been contacted to come free the boat.

A man at the Driftwood Ocean Resort called 9-1-1 to report the boat about 100 to 200 feet off shore in calm water.

“There’s a boat looks like it’s in trouble. It is a humongous boat,” the man said.

He said he was watching from the second-floor as the boat, buffeted by waves, rocked closer to the beach. He said he saw at least two people on board trying to save the boat.

“They can’t get out and you can hear the bottom hitting,” the man said. “You can hear the guys yelling on deck. I heard a “help” but I don’t know if that’s him communicating to one of his guys or what. But they are getting closer and closer to being totally beached.”

He said it looked like the boat was going to capsize.

“You can hear the thunking of the bottom hitting,” he said.

He said he did not see anyone wearing life jackets.

“They’re close enough they could have jumped out of the boat and walked in,” he said. "Like, they are trying to save the boat. But they are having very bad difficulty."

 There were no reports of injuries among the crew, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Dickinson on Tuesday morning.

"Not that I'm aware of," he said.

He said the Coast Guard has a team at the site to check for any possible pollution coming from the grounded boat but none has been reported so far.

Passers-by glanced at the boat sitting in the surf Tuesday at low tide. Dickinson said there is no timeline for removing the boat and it may need to be towed off the beach. 

He did not know what caused the boat to run aground and he added that he was not aware of any rough seas last night.

The Coast Guard has contacted the boat's crew, he said. But Dickinson said he did not have the name of the owner.

The AMG is registered in Coast Guard records as a commercial fishing vessel owned by Son Hung Dang of Biloxi, Mississippi. The steel-hulled boat was built in 1987 and its home port is Key West. 

The boat has a gross tonnage of 152 tons, about the same weight as 60 regular-duty pickup trucks.

Bigger boats have run aground in the past in this area but usually they aren't as large as the AMG.

In May 2014, a 36-foot boat named the Big Buddy ran aground near Ponce Inlet and Disappearing Island. Seven people were rescued from the boat, which began to flood at high tide. The boat’s owner hired a commercial salvage company to pull it free.

And a boat stolen from the Daytona Marina and Boat Works ran aground in June 2017 in Daytona Beach.

Jonathan Race, 21, was accused of stealing the boat. Race told Daytona Beach Police he had blacked out after drinking a couple of Four Lokos, which can be as strong as 14 percent alcohol by volume and didn't remember what happened. But police said they found his shorts and ID on the boat.

Race pleaded no contest to two counts of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and grand theft. Circuit Judge Matt Foxman placed him on probation for seven years and withheld adjudication, meaning if Race successfully completes probation he won't have a conviction on his record.

[READ: Stolen boat runs aground. Man arrested after his shorts and Id found on board.]

A heavy tug and barge crew out of Jacksonville is being dispatched to pull the boat off the beach, said Nick Foster, the owner of SeaTow Daytona, which is not involved in the recovery.

He said it typically takes a day for the tug from Jacksonville to arrive.

“That boat is pretty far up on the beach,” Foster said. “They are going to need a lot of horsepower to get that vessel moved.”

But he added it was fortunate that no fuel has spilled and no one on the crew was injured. Such boats typically have a crew of two or three.

Pulling the large shrimp boat off the beach won’t be easy since the wet sand creates suction and the boat sinks into the sand.

“The longer it sits there, the more of a concern it becomes,” he said.