Ship Sinks Northwest of Guam
Ten people were rescued and 12 people remain missing as Coast Guard, Navy and Good Samaritan rescue crews search the Pacific Ocean about 375 miles northwest of Guam. An emergency beacon registered to the motor vessel Hai Tong #7 began broadcasting a distress signal at about 11 a.m. July 10. About 20 minutes later the emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) signal ceased broadcasting. The Coast Guard issued an urgent marine broadcast asking mariners in the area to assist. The masters of the motor vessel Ikan Bilis and the Horizon Falcon diverted to the scene. The Horizon Falcon arrived on scene shortly before noon July 11. The master reported an oil slick and debris in position last broadcast by the emergency beacon.
Pushing the Tugs in Charleston
"Tug boat sinks, spills diesel fuel" declared the headline in the Local section of the newspaper. And, strictly speaking, the headline was correct. In 1906, The Captain Morgan had been built as a tug. But as the fourth paragraph acknowledged, "The owner was having the boat ... refurbished into a house boat." So would it be more correct, technically speaking, to say "House boat sinks?" It may be a subtle distinction, but subtleties are why people buy newspapers. Houseboaters and pleasure boaters in general, some might imagine, leave no waterborne pollutants in Charleston harbor, while commercial vessels and oil spills were practically synonymous by November 9. And potentially scandalous.
