Coast Guard rescues nine people from tourist pirate ship

GLOUCESTER, Mass., March 31 (UPI) -- The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday rescued nine people aboard a disabled tourist pirate ship amid rough waves off the coast of Massachusetts.

The engines of the Canadian tall ship, called Liana's Ransom, became disabled and its sails wrapped around the mast around midnight Monday about 58 miles east of Gloucester.

Rough sea conditions were creating waves nearly 10 feet tall at the time, a news release from the Coast Guard said. The rough water prevented two 47-foot motor life boat crews from Station Gloucester from towing the ship back to shore.

The nine crew members aboard the Liana's Ransom were transferred to the Coast Guard boats. Footage obtained by the Coast Guard shows one person leaping between the two vessels.

One person who leapt between the two vessels sustained a head injury and was transported by air to Massachusetts General Hospital aboard a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk Helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod.

Coast Guard Cutter Ocracoke was dispatched to the site of where Liana's Ransom was left to evaluate the possibility of towing it back to shore.

"It was fortunate for the crew of the vessel that the owner reached out to us," said Jay Woodhead, the command duty officer at Sector Boston's Command Center.