CAPE MAY – The crew members at SeaTow-Cape May are always up for a challenge, whether it is threading the needle towing a 35-foot-wide vessel through a 50-foot gap between the piers of a bridge, or rescuing nearly a dozen cats left alone on a vessel in Cape May Harbor.
The latter occurred on Sunday, Aug. 17, after SeaTow received a call from a client, saying he had suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized, leaving four adult cats and six kittens aboard his sailboat at the anchorage in Cape May Harbor.
“It was definitely different for us,” said SeaTow owner Jack Moran.
Cats are not normally part of the services listed in contracts, but the sailboat owner called SeaTow and asked if the team could stop by and feed the cats and make sure they had water. The owner explained that he was in the hospital getting a pacemaker.
Moran called on his brother, Sean Moran, who is a veterinarian. Sean and his wife, Ruth, came out and found that the conditions on the boat were not good for the felines. Moran said the interior of the boat was hot and stuffy, and the food was going bad very quickly. In addition, the State Police had become aware of the cats and had their concerns about the animals’ well-being.
Moran said they formulated a plan to take care of the cats, which included getting them turned over to animal control in Cape May Court House for their safety and care. He said the cats will be cared for until the owner is well enough to take them again.
As to threading the needle between bridge piers, the ship was the fishing vessel Nancy Elizabeth, which Moran said was 120 feet in overall length, according to the boat’s documentation.
“It’s one of the biggest boats in Cape May – it’s probably the fourth-largest,” he said.
Moran said towing such a large vessel is also not something they do every day, but he was proud of the effort, getting the ship, which had suffered mechanical problems, back to Lund’s Fisheries in one piece and without damaging the bridge.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
