The U.S. Coast Guard and multiple regional agencies are searching for 58-year-old Peter Baron, a citizen of Dominica, who is overdue after departing Tortola, British Virgin Islands, bound for St. Maarten aboard a 45-foot white catamaran named Ocean Time. Photo: Internet Source

Aerial route over the Caribbean Sea. Photo: Internet Source

Baron left on Sunday as the sole person on board to deliver the vessel to its new owner and has not arrived at his destination, prompting a multi-agency search effort that began Thursday.

Timeline and background

According to reports, Coast Guard watchstanders at Sector San Juan received a call from concerned family members reporting Baron overdue on Wednesday night. 

Through follow-up communications, they spoke with a local maritime agent who said Baron had initially departed Tortola for Sint Maarten about a week earlier but encountered steering system problems that forced him to return to Tortola. 

The agent relayed that Baron performed repairs on the steering system himself before setting out again on Sunday. As of Thursday, there were no reported sightings of Baron or the Ocean Time.

Search assets and public appeal

In response, watchstanders directed the launch of an MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen and issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast and an Enhanced Group Call, asking vessel traffic in the area to keep a lookout. 

Additional assets and partners involved in the search include a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft, Virgin Islands Search and Rescue, the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Fort-de-France, and the Rescue Coordination Centre in Curaçao.

Anyone with information that may assist in locating Baron or the vessel is asked to contact Coast Guard Sector San Juan at 787-289-2041.