(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans)

PACIFIC OCEAN –  An MH-60S Knight Hawk assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23 passes the guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee (DDG 90) while delivering supplies to aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) during a vertical replenishment with fast combat support ship USNS Bridge (T-AOE 10).  Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are deployed in the Western Pacific.

The MH-60s is a Sikorsky helicopter designed to conduct vertical replenishment, special warfare support, personnel transfer, and anti-mine countermeasures.

1. The helicopter pilot is bad ass and;
2. It was released by Prism Defence, an Australian-owned company that specializes in ship helicopter integration.

Actually through some research we found out that the video is presumably taken during system testing aboard the HDMS Ejnar Mikkelsen, a Royal Danish Navy patrol vessel.  Check it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)–Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, said early Sunday that rescuers had located the body of the fourth person who died in a helicopter crash in the Atlantic Ocean off the country’s southeast coast.

Divers are working to recover the bodies of the four men, although rough seas were hindering rescue efforts, Petrobras said. The helicopter and three bodies were located Saturday on the seabed some 100 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state in southeast Brazil.

On Friday evening, helicopter pilot Rommel Oliveira Garcia contacted air-traffic control in Macae, an oil-industry hub in the north of the state, to say he was making an emergency landing at sea.

The helicopter, an AgustaWestland AW139, had departed from the P-65 oil rig around 5 p.m. local time on Friday. The P-65 platform operates in the Enchova field, one of the first fields developed by Petrobras in the prolific Campos Basin.

Search-and-rescue operations then started in coordination with the Brazilian air force and navy, together with Petrobras’ own aircraft and ships.

The co-pilot’s name hasn’t been divulged at the request of the family. The passengers were Ricardo Leal de Oliveira, employed by the Engevix engineering firm, and Joao Carlos Pereira da Silva, of Brasitest, which carries out quality-control tests.

The helicopter belongs to the Senior Taxi Aereo company, and was being operated on behalf of Petrobras. On Saturday, Petrobras prohibited the use of the AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter for company related flights. A company spokesman said that it was unclear how long the ban would be in effect.

-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires, Matthew Cowley in Sao Paulo contributed to this article.

The search had been suspended overnight but restarted at first light on Saturday, the Brazilian air force said in a statement.

The helicopter ditched in the sea after the pilot reported an emergency to air traffic control in Macae, an oil-industry hub in the north of the state, the air force said.

The helicopter had departed from the P-65 oil rig at around 5 p.m. local time on Friday, the air force said. The P-65 platform operates in the Enchova field, one of the first fields developed by the government-run oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.BR, PBR), in the prolific Campos Basin.

One air force plane and one navy plane joined with aircraft and ships of Petrobras to hunt for the helicopter and any survivors.

Petrobras said there were two crew members and two passengers aboard. The pilot was Rommel Oliveira Garcia, but the co-pilot’s name hasn’t been divulged at the request of the family.

The passengers were Ricardo Leal de Oliveira, employed by the Engevix engineering firm, and Joao Carlos Pereira da Silva, of Brasitest, which carries out quality control tests.

The helicopter belongs to the Senior air taxi company, and was being operated on behalf of Petrobras.

-By Matthew Cowley, Dow Jones Newswires

Rescue helicopter Lifeguard 907 (a Sikorsky S-76) is hovering behind the relics of an old cargo vessel at northern Fårö, Sweden. Stranded shipwrecks are a very rare sight in the country, but this one is an interesting exception.

The year was 1968 and the 51 year old German freighter MF Fortuna was headed southbound with a crew of five when she struck bad weather. The crew tried to find lee behind the Norsholmen islet, but ran heavily aground. The waves swelled the deck and the crew struggled to launch the lifeboat, but the ship rocked too violently and the lifeboat became flooded by water.
At half past three on the morning of October 28th a witness on dry land saw some distant emergency flares and made the crucial distress call. A military rescue helicopter was launched instantly and it managed to salvage all five people onboard within an hour.

The most of MF Fortuna has now been swallowed by nature, 40 years later, but the bow still remains. She sits on the shallow shores of Norsholmen, in the middle of the Baltic Sea, and waits for nature to take the rest of her back.

Seems like Fortuna was kind of an unfortunate name for this ship….

gCaptain’s photo of the week is a helicopter shot of LNG Tanker Lokoja (IMO# 9269960). Built by the Korean shipyard Daewoo in 2006 she is owned by BW Gas and chartered to Suez LNG.

What makes this the photo of the week is both the amazing perspective and the photographer himself. gCaptain believes every mariner has a specialty, hobby or interest that makes him unique and we love to showcase their work. This is a great example because, like our friend OneEighteen’s best work, Carlos Ferreira, the photographer, took this shot while performing his everyday duties at sea. Carlos also happens to have a day job that every mariner deeply appreciates, Rescue Captain aboard Spain’s Rescue Helicopter “Pesca 2″.

For more of Carlos’ amazing photos CLICK HERE.

Last week we brought you information on marine license insurance and in our continuing quest to look at non-traditional protection available to mariners we bring you Global Rescue – Maritime!

Mariners work in conditions that make getting immediate medical treatment extremely difficult. Most mariners and shipping companies do not have the assets to quickly and smoothly move injured or ill mariners off the ship and to qualified medical facilities much less to a hospital of their choice. When they do, Aeromedical transports can cost well over $100,000US and are rarely covered by insurance.

Even when a shipping company has a track record of evacuating injured mariners they rarely offer the level of service a good third party company can provide. For example:  Will your company send you to a hospital in the nearest country or get you home fast? Will they provide a qualified medivac team at the closest point of land? Will the patient and their family’s concerns remain top priority?  With Global Rescue the answer is YES!  They also are discrete, important if you worry about your company’s reaction to a medical concern.

Global Rescue tells us:

Through its ability to provide real-time medical consulting anywhere in the world from its specialists at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Global Rescue is able to relay critical medical support to sick or injured mariners while they are thousands of miles from a hospital or out of the range of a medivac aircraft. Since most ocean-going vessels do not possess medically trained and equipped crews, Global Rescue provides ship captains the confidence and peace of mind needed to be sure injured sailors will be well cared for until rescue teams can reach the vessel.

In addition to its medical consultation services, the Boston-based crisis response company has a network of medically equipped, fixed and rotary-wing aircraft on every continent, thousands of vetted hospitals worldwide who can provide treatment in any patient’s language, and a selection of Centers of Excellence around the globe that offer medical care on par with that available in the United States. Its deployable paramedics routinely respond to emergencies in the most remote reaches of the planet.

When a shipmate is injured off an unfamiliar coast, Global Rescue will give you the confidence to stabilize him on board and the knowledge that first-rate medical providers are deployed to the closest point of land. Family members will be comforted in the knowledge that Global Rescue will keep them informed and expedite his return to a hospital of their choice.

While many of us think insurance is an unneccessary expense, it’s important to note that like a firefighting or personal survival training… when ship hits the fan it too late to start preparing.

If your ship travels to unusual places or you simply want a cost effective back up to your company’s medical plan visit their maritime website or call them at +1.800.381.9754. Be sure to mention you are a mariner or shipping company as this is a specialty service they provide to seafarers at no additional cost.

Also be sure to download their Mission Summaries pdf for some truly amazing stories of rescue.

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SAN PEDRO, Calif. — The aircrews of Air Station Los Angeles spent the day training for cliff operations May 17 at Point Vicente Lighthouse. The air station trains for these types of operations twice a year in preparation for any rescues that may occur in the Southern California area.

SAN DIEGO, Calif., (November 16, 2007) Crews from Air Stations San Diego and Sacramento conducted a medevac of a 72 year-old-male from a cruise ship 70 miles east of Isla De Guadalupe, Mexico. The C-130 from Air Sta Sacramento flew overhead coverage as the HH-60 from Air Station San Diego hoisted the man from the ship. The man was taken to Air Station San Diego where he was transferred to local EMS.

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