Nature Cruise Vessel Helps Disabled Sailboat Off Bar Harbor.

Carrie Jones and Shaun Farrar

Aug 29, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Bar Harbor Historical Society.

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BAR HARBOR—The ALANI’s mayday came through early Friday afternoon across boating channels and fog, the words holding a frantic edge.

“Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.”

Coordinates came through and a location determined.

And the Coast Guard heard.

The crew of the Miss Samantha heard, too.

“Captain Tate Krampiz and I heard the distress calls to the Coast Guard over the radio. We looked on AIS to see where the sailing vessel in distress was located, which was just outside the harbor. It just so happened we heard the call during a break between our lobster fishing trips,” said Julie Taylor, the lead naturalist on the Miss Samantha.

The 56-foot DMR boat is part of Bar Harbor Whale Watch’s fleet and brings tourists out for nature trips and cruises.

What Miss Samantha’s crew heard was that a 48-foot sailboat in the fog just off Bar Harbor’s Shore Path and just outside the harbor. The ALANI was close to an American Cruise Line vessel and ledges and had lost its propulsion. It couldn’t steer.

Adrift, the people onboard worried that they could potentially hit a ledge. They thought they were taking on water.

The ALANI was the third boat in less than a week that ran into troubles in Mount Desert Island waters, following the capsizing of a small sailboat in Tremont waters and also a lobster boat sinking in Tremont last Saturday. Both were recovered and the occupants were unharmed. The initial response to both incidents in Tremont were by local lobstermen.

In Bar Harbor during an exceptionally foggy part of the afternoon, that first response came from the Miss Samantha.

“Any vessel in distress is a serious situation. Any mariner available and nearby to help should take immediate action to provide assistance, especially to ensure the safety of the people onboard the vessel,” Taylor said. “Captain Tate and I quickly headed out on the M/V Miss Samantha to check in on the sailing vessel’s crew, as they initially reported that they were taking on water and unable to maneuver. After communicating with the harbormaster and coordinating with the people onboard the vessel, Captain Tate pulled alongside and we prepped the vessel to be towed to a nearby mooring just outside the harbor.”

That’s exactly what they did.

The Miss Samantha towed ALANI to mooring ball No. 6 in Bar Harbor.

“Thanks to Captain Tate, we successfully and carefully towed the vessel to a mooring, where the crew waited for the US Coast Guard,” Taylor said, referring to Captain Tate Krampitz.

After the sailboat was safely moored, Miss Samantha and her crew went about her day and the Coast Guard arrived, cutting through the fog.

“The Coast Guard also responded to assist,” Bar Harbor Harbormaster Chris Wharff confirmed.

According to LT J.P. Freeman of Sector Northern New England the Coast Guard “had received a distress call over VHF-FM Channel 16 at approximately 12:45 p.m. Friday from the sailing vessel ALANI after the vessel began taking on water and became disabled near the Bar Harbor mooring field with two people aboard.”

“Coast Guard Station Southwest Harbor launched a response crew to assist. The two people aboard ALANI were able to temporarily plug the leak and stop the flooding but remained disabled,” Lt. Freeman said.

While most tourists meandered by on the Shore Path, which runs along a portion of Bar Harbor’s downtown post, some stood and watched as the Coast Guard did its work.

A drug bust, one couple wondered.

Another group thought the cutter was a fishing boat, picking up traps due to its back and forth motions by the disabled sailboat.

“The Coast Guard crew arrived on scene and conducted a boarding of ALANI, finding no immediate concerns with the temporary repair. The vessel’s owner subsequently arranged for a local salvor to tow ALANI to Southwest Harbor for permanent repairs,” Lt. Freeman said in a statement.

There were no reported injuries.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

The Miss Samanatha and Bar Harbor Whale Watch.

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All photos: Carrie Jones/BHS.

Correction: We wrote “UNARMED” instead of UNHARMED in a paragraph above. We meant UNHARMED. We don’t know if they were unarmed. Many thanks to the savvy reader who caught it. With many “oh nos,” it was corrected at 9:34 a.m., August 29.

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