Sunken Barge

Sunken Barges to be Monitored

The Department of Ecology (Ecology) and U.S. Coast Guard agreed on a plan to continue monitoring two sunken barges in Elliott Bay, after divers found no leaking oil yesterday. A diving team hired by Ecology made three dives to inspect the unidentified barges, located a half-mile off Seattle's Magnolia Bluff on a slope under 80 to 105 feet of water. Ecology received a report about the wrecks late last month from the People for Puget Sound environmental organization, which has been working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to remove abandoned fishing gear from the depths of Puget Sound. Divers from that project reported seeing "burps" of oil rising from a barge off Magnolia Bluff. In case oil may be leaking intermittently, the Coast Guard will monitor the surface over the site for signs of oil through March. The Coast Guard will make extended visits to the site in boats in the coming weeks to monitor for any signs of oil. Regular Coast Guard helicopter and boat patrols will check the site when passing the area. Auxiliary volunteers will comb libraries and archives for additional information about wrecks in the area.

T&T Bisso Salvages Tug

The 600 ton capacity D/B BIG T, owned by T&T MARINE SALVAGE of Galveston, Texas, and the 700 ton capacity D/B CAPPY BISSO, owned by BISSO MARINE of Houston, Texas, were used to make a tandem lift of a 105-ft. sunken tugboat in Port Arthur, Texas. T&T BISSO initially responded to the sunken vessel with the GEORGE T, a salvage support barge used for the diving survey and rigging operations. Once the diving survey and salvage rigging phases were complete

Sunken Drydock Blocks Shipping Channel

A Louisiana shipping channel used to supply crude oil to two big Gulf coast refineries has reopened to most ships but very large vessels may still not be able to get through, the U.S. Coast Guard reported on Monday. A sunken drydock has been blocking the shipping channel in the Calcasieu River, just north of the Intracoastal Waterway, since Tuesday, preventing deepdraft vessels, such as crude oil tankers, from passing through the area

Falmouth Coastguard Searches for Missing Crew

Falmouth Coastguard is coordinating a major air and sea search and rescue operation following the capsize and sinking of a French fishing vessel today, 14 miles South by West of Lizard Point in Cornwall. At 12.40pm this afternoon, Falmouth Coastguard received a distress alert from the fishing vessel ERIDAN reporting that they had seen another fishing vessel capsize and sink and subsequently Falmouth Coastguard received a distress alert from an Emergency Positioning Beacon (EPIRB).

T&T Bisso Refloats Sunken Tug

T&T Bisso refloated a tugboat that sank in the Houston Ship Channel. The company used the C/B Curtis T to prepare the sunken tug for lifting after its dive team recovered the body of a missing crewmember onboard the vessel. The vessel then was lifted to the surface by a derrick barge and dewatered. The 56-ft tug sank with five people aboard near the Sims Bayou turning basin. The other four crewmembers were rescued by nearby refinery workers.  

Original Stealth Ship Sold for Scrap

Once-classified Navy stealth ship 'Sea Shadow' has been sold to an Alameda shipyard for scrapping The $2.5 million bid from Bay Ship & Yacht Co. won the federal government auction. The firm was interested not so much in the space-age stealth ship but the barge that houses it, which will be converted into a drydock, reports 'The Sacramento Bee'. Sea Shadow was built in 1985 by Lockheed Martin in Redwood City, under contract with the U.S. Navy, for a price of $50 million

Wreckage in Gulf Poses Problems

Many unmarked marine hazards listed in the Coast Guard's latest Local Notice to Mariners, such as missing oil platforms to sunken boats to unidentified debris fields have been reported in the weekly updates since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita swept through the GOM oil patch. Even as some wreckage is located and cleaned up, more lost and sunken platforms -- or pieces of them -- are being discovered and reported to the Coast Guard every week.

Coast Guard Awards Salvage Contract to Titan

The U.S. Coast Guard has awarded a $3.5 million contract to Titan Maritime, LLC, of Dania, Florida to conduct an underwater assessment of the sunken shipwreck S.S. Jacob Luckenbach, and remove any recoverable oil discovered within the fuel tanks of the vessel. The shipwreck was identified in February as the ongoing source of pollution that has periodically oiled thousands of sea birds off the California Coast. The contract award is the culmination of an intensive evaluation and selection

Italy Probes Mob Link to Sunken Ships

According to a Sept. 17 report from CNN, Italian authorities are investigating dozens of sunken ships, possibly containing toxic waste, that may have been submerged by a local crime syndicate. As many as 32 shipwrecks with illicit and highly toxic cargo could be lying on the seabed and polluting the Mediterranean Sea, Italian authorities said. Divers found one ship last week just where a mob informant had said it would be, 15 miles off the coast of Cetraro

McKinney Chooses Mitsubishi

For more than 40 years, McKinney Companies has served the Gulf petroleum and dry cargo industries from its headquarters on the Mississippi River and Intracoastal Waterway.  The latest addition to the towing fleet is the shiny new Mac Andrew McKinney.  To power the push boat, they turned to Laborde Products to supply an S12A2 Mitsubishi engine rated 940 hp at 1,940 rpm. "We wanted a Tier II diesel engine with hydraulic governor," said Andy McKinney, VP of operations