In the summer of 1980 I was a QM2 aboard the USCGC Sagebrush (WLB-399) out of San Juan, PR. The USVI was part of our OP-AREA and both Johnson Reef '1JR' and Johnson Reef 'JC' were maintained by the Sagebrush. During our ATON run I was detailed to do position checks on both of these buoys. Prior to departure I provided a navigation brief to the coxswain and the boat crew; after the brief I gave the coxswain, a BM3, a corrected 25641 chart sealed in a clear plastic bag for reference. Shortly there-after the Sagebrush launched our motor cargo boat 'SAG 1' in the Windward Passage and we were en route to Johnson Reef. Upon arrival at the north side of '1JR' the boat crewman tied the boat off to the buoy and I climbed up to the top of it with a boxed USN Mark II sextant in my backpack and strapped myself to the buoy and unloaded the sextant. I took four rounds of angles repacked the sextant and returned to the boat. I wedged myself onto the deck in the bow and transcribed the angles I recorded onto the positioning record form. Within a minute, the boat crew man took in the mooring line and we were drifting with the engine at idle, waves lapping at the hull, suddenly the coxswain gunned the engine and I yelled up to him 'hey this is a big reef, which way are you going?' Within seconds, the banging and scrapping noise was deafening - we were hard aground on Johnson Reef. The coxswain shutdown the engine, the boat crew man and boat engineer checked for any breech on the hull. I secured my gear and asked the coxswain for the chart - said he left it on the Sagebrush. I knew we needed an inspection of the exterior of the hull and an assessment of how we could get free; I put on my mask and snorkel and went over the side in my blues and low cuts. We were aground in a field of elk horn coral - the hull was deeply scored from the reef and coral, but the rudder and prop were not damaged so we waited for about 90 minutes for high tide (all of about a foot) and I was able to guide the boat out to deeper water. The coxswain tried to explain the grounding away by saying he was making a 'beeline' for 'JC' - and that he did not have chart to guide him...
The coxswains carelessness, lack of preparation and mindset that he didn't need any charts and markers to show him the way to the objective had very high costs.
(My) Moral - just because you're USCG certified coxswain doesn't mean you're qualified to handle the boat, until proven otherwise I view everyone as a "CCC" because they are everywhere.
REF: U.S. Coast Pilot 5, Chapter 14: Johnson Reef, a coral formation 0.4 mile NE of Perkins Cay, is 500 yards long and over 0.2 mile wide; it breaks except in very smooth weather. A ledge, over which is a 20-foot passage, connects this reef with the mainland to the SE. The reef is marked by a lighted buoy at its N end and by an unlighted buoy at its S end.
REF:
http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/25641.shtmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Sagebrush_(WLB-399)https://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/sagebrush1944.asphttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Categ...h_(WLB-399).jpghttp://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjI2WDcyMA==/z/OUgAAOSwWTRWzxAu/$_57.jpg
