Northern Lehigh graduate Samantha Corcoran was fresh on the job as Public Affairs Officer of the First Coast Guard District, Boston, when she found herself on the front lines of an event that captured the attention of the world.

Lt. Corcoran, of Slatington, is working 18-hour days coordinating with news networks and media concerning the Coast Guard’s intense search for a submersible carrying five men to the bottom of the ocean to view the remains of the RMS Titanic, sunk 900 miles off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The vessel lost contact at about 6 p.m. Sunday, about an hour and 45 minutes after launching.

Lt. Corcoran screens news media calls, getting the callers connected with the right people, reviews her captain’s public speeches, and answers media questions, getting reporters in touch with the people who can answer their questions.

On Thursday, Corcoran appeared on a CNN broadcast about the doomed vessel, which was found to have imploded.

Corcoran also supervises six people, her mother, Theresa Corcoran, said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Theresa and her husband James are rightfully proud of their daughter. After graduating from high school, Corcoran was nominated by then-U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent to attend the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, her father said.

From there, she attended the University of North Carolina, earning a Master’s degree in journalism.

Corcoran has only just recently arrived at the U.S. Coast Guard Base in Boston, her mother said.

Samantha’s brother, Jonathon, an Army recruiter, is also in Massachusetts.

“This is her second week on the job, and she got slammed with this on Sunday. She’s been working 18 hour days,” Theresa Corcoran said.

Theresa is in Boston to help take her care of her daughter’s dog, Tony.

“These have been long days for her,” Theresa said.

Her parents are very proud.

“She always does her best. She’s a good kid,” her mother said.

Corcoran may be looking forward to a little down now that the search for the submersible, the Titan, in the North Atlantic Ocean has ended.

Searchers on Thursday found parts of the vessel about 1,600 feet from the remains of the Titanic.

OceanGate Expeditions arranged the dive, for which the men paid $250,000 each.

On board were Hamish Harding; Paul-Henri Nargeolet; Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; and Stockton Rush, who was OceanGate’s CEO.