Whidbey first responders, a Coast Guard vessel and a commercial towboat were dispatched to a stranded tugboat on Wednesday. No one was injured.

Around 3 p.m., North Whidbey Fire and Rescue sent off two boats near West Beach, southwest of Deception Pass, where a 47-foot tugboat rounded the bend and hit some bedrock that the two people on board couldn’t see, said Battalion Chief Daniel Horton.

The tugboat captain issued a mayday through channel 16, the international distress channel, saying the pumps couldn’t keep up with the incoming water. By the time the fire crew showed up, the boat was free from the outcrop but flooding.

North Whidbey Fire helped pump water from the grounded boat as TowBoat US, a commercial salvage company, showed up and delivered a new pump, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier. Unfortunately, that pump failed too.

Finally, Island County Marine 21, the county’s response vessel, delivered a second pump which worked.

A Coast Guard ship then attached itself to TowBoat US to assist in pushing the tugboat to Skyline Marina in Anacortes, Strohmaier said. The fire crew followed the Coast Guard to aid along the way and retrieve their equipment.

The affair took about two and a half hours, Horton said.

“It happened, and they were able to physically get out of the water fairly quickly,” said Strohmaier.

At Skyline, the tugboat was pulled out of the water where it remains for repairs.