Douglas W. Eaton, captain of the 20-foot sailing vessel Tyche homeported in Key West, Fla., was rescued by the crew of the cruise ship Crown Princess after the Coast Guard received an Electronic Locater Transmitter (ELT) signal from Eaton this afternoon. 

The Crown Princess, a 947-foot Bahamian-flagged cruise ship, is designated as an Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) vessel.

"We got a great response from the AMVER vessels in the area," said Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Scott Murphy, who said several AMVER vessels in the area also answered the Coast Guard's call for assistance.

Eaton will stay on board the Crown Princess until its next port of call in New York City.

AMVER, sponsored by the United States Coast Guard, is a unique, computer-based and voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea. With AMVER rescue coordinators can identify participating ships in the area of distress and divert the best-suited ship or ships to respond.

Coast Guard Sector Baltimore was notified of the situation at about midnight, at which point the operator of the boat indicated that Towboat U.S. would come to their assistance. After the initial notification, the boaters turned off their VHF radio and their cell phone.

Towboat U.S. and Maryland Natural Resources Police crews were unable to locate the vessel during the night due to bad GPS coordinates from the operator's cell phone.

The mother of one of the children called the Coast Guard at about 6:15 a.m. to report that her child on board had asthma, and requested Coast Guard assistance.

Coast Guard Sector Baltimore contacted the operator's cell phone company and was able to determine a search area by using a line of bearing from a cell phone tower. The crew from Coast Guard Station Oxford located the people at about 9:15 a.m. and towed them to a marina on Slaughter Creek.

All seven people on board were reported to be in good condition.