Pinellas County is located on the west central coast of the state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 959,107. The county is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Clearwater is the county seat. St. Petersburg is the largest city as well as the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat.
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the largest city in the state that is not a county seat. Along with Clearwater, these cities are part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is on the Pinellas peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and is connected to mainland Florida to the north.
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search is conducted over. These include mountain rescue; ground search and rescue, including the use of search and rescue dogs; urban search and rescue in cities; combat search and rescue on the battlefield and air-sea rescue over water.
The Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, often referred to as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge or the Sunshine Skyway, consists of a pair of long beam bridges with a central cable-stayed bridge that spans Lower Tampa Bay to connect St. Petersburg, Florida to Terra Ceia. The current Sunshine Skyway opened in 1987 and is the second bridge of that name on the site. It was designed by the Figg & Muller Engineering Group and built by the American Bridge Company. The bridge is considered the flagship bridge of Florida and serves as a gateway to Tampa Bay. The four-lane bridge carries Interstate 275 and U.S. Route 19, passing through Pinellas County, Hillsborough County and Manatee County. It is a toll road, with a $1.50 toll assessed on two-axle vehicles traveling in either direction and collected via cash or the state's SunPass system.
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater inflow into the bay is the Hillsborough River, which flows into Hillsborough Bay in downtown Tampa. Many other smaller rivers and streams also flow into Tampa Bay, resulting in a large watershed area.
The Tampa Bay area is a major populated area surrounding Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida in the United States. It includes the main cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. It is the 18th largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 3,175,275 as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
Eckerd College is a private liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded in 1958, part of the campus is waterfront and beach on Boca Ciega Bay. Because of its location, Eckerd is considered a "beach school" and has its own student volunteer maritime search and rescue team. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Eckerd is a member of the Annapolis and Oberlin groups of national liberal arts colleges.
Water police, also called harbor patrols, port police, marine/maritime police, nautical patrols, bay constables,river police, or maritime law enforcement are police officers, usually a department of a larger police organization, who patrol in water craft. Their patrol areas may be coastal sea waters, rivers, estuaries, harbors, lakes, canals or a combination of these.
The MV Summit Venture was a bulk carrier that is best known for colliding into the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in 1980. It was built in 1976 by Oshima Shipbuilding Co. of Nagasaki, Japan. She was 609 feet (186 m) long, had a breadth of 85.5 feet (26.1 m), deadweight of 33,912 tons, gross weight of 19,735 tons and a net weight of 13,948 tons.
Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City is a United States Coast Guard Air Station co-located at Elizabeth City Regional Airport in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, along the Pasquotank River near the opening of the Albemarle Sound. The base has a garrison of approximately 855 officers and enlisted. The Coast Guard air station is also one of the busiest in the U.S. Coast Guard, operating missions as far away as Greenland, the Azores and the Caribbean.
Albert Whitted Airport is a public airport in St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, Florida. It is on the west edge of Tampa Bay, just southeast of downtown St. Petersburg and east of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
The United States Coast Guard is the coastal defense, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement branch of the United States Armed Forces and is one of the country's eight uniformed services. It carries out three basic roles, which are further subdivided into eleven statutory missions. The three roles are:
USCGC Resolute (WMEC-620) is a United States Coast Guard medium endurance cutter.
USCGC Tallapoosa (WPG-52) was a United States Coast Guard cutter of the Tallapoosa-class and was designed to replace the revenue cutter Winona. Her hull was reinforced for light icebreaking. She was initially stationed at Mobile, Alabama, with cruising grounds to Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana and Fowey Rocks, Florida. During World War I she escorted convoys out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After the war she served with the Bering Sea Patrol before returning to Savannah, Georgia before World War II. During the war Tallapoosa assisted with convoy escort duty and anti-submarine patrols.
USCGC Tampa (ex-Miami) was a Miami-class cutter that initially served in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, followed by service in the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy. Tampa was used extensively on the International Ice Patrol and also during the Gasparilla Carnival at Tampa, Florida and other regattas as a patrol vessel. It was sunk with the highest American naval combat casualty loss in World War I.
USCGC Point Swift (WPB-82312) was an 82-foot (25 m) Point class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1961 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat. Since the Coast Guard policy in 1961 was not to name cutters under 100 feet (30 m) in length, it was designated as WPB-82312 when commissioned and acquired the name Point Swift in January 1964 when the Coast Guard started naming all cutters longer than 65 feet (20 m).
Search and rescue in the United States involves a wide range of organizations that have search and rescue responsibilities.
USCGC Anacapa (WPB-1335) is an Island-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She is based at Petersburg, Alaska and is responsible for law enforcement, search and rescue, and maritime defense.
USCGC Cape Horn was a 95-foot (29 m) type "C" Cape-class cutter constructed at the Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland in 1958 for use as a law enforcement and search and rescue patrol boat.
USS YF-416 was an American YF-257-class covered lighter built in 1943 for service in World War II. She was later acquired by the United States Coast Guard and renamed USCGC White Sumac (WAGL-540).
