Oh, ship!

Associated Press
7/22/2004

BIG STONE BEACH — The Coast Guard forced a Turkish merchant ship heading into Philadelphia harbor to turn around today after being told that a bomb might be on board, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

A Coast Guard boarding team stopped the ship in the Delaware Bay shortly before noon for what was described as a “routine search,” the spokesman said.

But when a member of the ship’s crew told the boarding team there was a bomb on board, the boarding crew called for backup.

The ship, which was carrying coal, was ordered to head to a safe anchorage point near Big Stone Beach in the Delaware Bay where another boarding crew can conduct a more thorough search.

In the meanwhile, the crewman recanted his story.