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Winter Watch Standing

When the weather turns cold, the snow begins to fly and some of the harbors in the Northeast ice over, Sea Tow Boston reduces the size of it's active fleet of boats in service. We refer to this time of the season as our Winter Watch Standing hours.

Typically from late November through April we reduce the number of our boats in service, recall the towboats from the Gloucester and Salem locations back to Boston and reduce the hours that we actively man the radios in the Dispatch Center.

Have no doubt..... Winter Watch Standing doesn't mean that we cease operations. Quite the contrary, we continue to operate, are available around the clock and always have at least one Sea Tow Vessel in the water and ready to go at all times. The office is staffed during regular business hours and the phones, as always, are answered 24 hours a day by a duty captain. Our repair shop also goes into high gear during the winter months to maintain the fleet and get the vessels ready for action in the spring.

Winter Watch Standing just means that due to the lack of demand, and poor operating conditions we cut back on active hours of operation and patrols. In the winter, if you are underway and need service, our response may be slightly delayed as we get the captain to the vessel and out to your location. We actually do quite a bit of towing during the winter including one memorable New Years Eve tow a few years ago.

Note: During the Winter Watch Standing months if you are trying to reach Sea Tow Boston by VHF radio and can't, please call the Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16 and ask them to contact Sea Tow for you. They'll be happy to give our duty captain a phone call and they'll also, for safety purposes, monitor your situation until we arrive on scene with you.

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