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CGC Chincoteague, manning Ocean Station Delta in the North Atlantic, received a distress message that the German freighter Helgs Bolten was taking on water and wished to abandon ship as soon as possible. After reaching the scene some hours later, the cutter found that the high winds and 25-foot seas made it impossible to launch lifeboats. Two inflatable lifeboats were passed by shot line to the freighter, and the 33 crewmen aboard were removed to the cutter unharmed. Chincoteague then stood by the drifting vessel for seven days while commercial tugs made salvage attempts. All of the survivors returned on board the cutter to Norfolk, VA while a tug towed Helg Bolten to the Azores.
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