Did the Dutch built ship that was seized in Savannah in the 1980s for running drugs become the Sunmar Sky or Sunmar Sea? I was thinking Sunmar Sea (later Coastal Sea), but my memory has gotten hazy on this.
I last saw the Coastal Sea in the Yukon River at Emmonak loading Salmon in 2014, just before she was retired.
The ship was forfeited to the US Government and sold at a US Marshall’s sale in Savannah. That’s how she got Jones Act privileges.
The first group of Norwegian owners (I don’t remember the name of the company or the cast of characters) with Norwegian-American frontmen that bought her at a US Marshall’s sale in Savannah went broke and the American crew had trouble getting paid. They also bought a second ship under similar circumstances.
A second group of Norwegian owners, Sunmar, took over and sent one of the ships to be rebuilt in Norway, and the other went to Korea where she got an entirely new forebody. Those foreign rebuilds were allowed for US “fishing vessels” at that time.
As I recall Sunmar operated the Sunmar Sea and Sunmar Sky in competition with Western Pioneer (which became Coastal Transportation) for a few years, and then Sunmar went bust. Coastal bought both of the Sunmar ships.
At least that’s how I hazily recall events of 35-40 years ago.