MetalCraft Marine

Add saving a whale to what fireboats are useful-for.

Boat crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, along with the Perth Amboy and New York fire departments, spent the next several hours following it and enforcing a protection zone around the mammal, Coast Guard Lt. Caren Damon said. The crews hoped to keep other boats aware of the situation as they waited for the whale to find its way back into the sea.

But what started as a 500-yard perimeter shrunk when the whale swam into the Raritan River and headed toward New Brunswick, Coast Guard and Perth Amboy officials said. At one point it was seen swimming under the railroad bridge between Perth Amboy and South Amboy.