Strange that nobody has posted this yet? Tug sinks off Big Sur

Maritime News Marine Incidents
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Hell, John can probably see the response operations from his house

[B]Four Rescued After Tug Sinks Off Big Sur, California[/B]
BY GCAPTAIN STAFF ON APRIL 14, 2013


Delta Captain. Photo: Marine Express

Earlier: The U.S. Coast Guard rescued four people from a liferaft Saturday after the Delta Captain tug sank off Point Sur, California, which is located along the pristine Big Sur coastline.

The Coast Guard said it received a distress call from the Delta Captain at 2:55 p.m. Saturday and dispatched a HH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter from San Francisco as well as patrol boats.

The 83-foot Delta Captain was towing a deck barge with a crane on board when the incident occurred about 13NM off Point Sur, CA, NOAA’s incident news reports. The tug and barge had a total of 22,000 gallons of diesel on board (18,000 on the tug, 4,000 on the barge), sparking fears of a spill.

By the time a USCG helicopter was on-scene, the barge, a life boat and debris was visible but no signs of pollution and no tug boat. The rescue helicopter crew was able to locate the survivors and deployed a rescue swimmer to hoist them aboard. All four were transported to shore in Monterey, and transferred to awaiting emergency medical technicians. There were no reports of injuries.

The tug is believed sunk and possibly suspended below the barge by a 1,400 foot tow cable. Water depths in the area are approximately 2,400 feet. Seas were reported to be 14-16 feet and gale force winds.

Two tugs were en route to the scene to tow the barge as of yesterday evening.

The Coast Guard and the Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response have set up an incident command post to respond to a spill. An overflight Sunday would assess any environmental risks.

The Delta Captain is owned and operated by Marine Express in Alameda, CA.

Really bizarre to think the tug is dangling at the end of its wire. Wonder if there is any way to heave it back up to the surface to salvage it?

In an opposite version of this story, my dad was towing a crane barge south from the Columbia River to Oakland in the early 80’s when during morning light they discovered the barge had capsized in the night and was going down. He told me they just let the wire pay off the drum and let the barge go blub. Of course, it was an unmanned tow so no injuries or rescue needed but imagine what was going through their minds on the tug that morning seeing the bottom of the barge behind them!

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I’ve been bouncing around in this weather for a week! Another low pressure system is moving in as I type this… I 'm south of Point Conception and the weather has been even snottier up north.

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This would be an interesting salvage if the Tug is dangling from the barge.

I know little about salvage but my guess would be to deploy a heavy lift crane to hoist it near the surface. Once at safe diving depth, attach bouyancy balloons to a harness. Raise it to just below the surface, reattach the crane hoist and slowly raise/pump out the hull. Once near surface, have divers patch any holes then tow back to the yard.

Does that sound right or am I off base here?

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In this case it will most likely cost more to salvage than it would to cut the gear and let her RIP in graveyard.

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I am curious what happened. I’ve worked for Marine Express in the past and on the Delta Captain. They took care of their equipment and she was a nice tug. Glad to hear the whole crew was rescued.

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The water depth was 2400 feet. Even with 600-800 feet of wire out the tug would then be 600-800 feet down. That seems like it would be below crush depth had the tug any remaining air pockets at that point.

Marine Express does maintain their equipment in very good condition. Our speculation is that with the large sail area of the tow ( a crane) and the strong winds upwards of 60 knots the small tug simply could not stay ahead of the tow in the 12-15 ft very close interval seas.

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Spotted the barge being towed south of Santa Rosa island. Wonder what happened to the tug?

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[QUOTE=87cr250r;105801]The water depth was 2400 feet. Even with 600-800 feet of wire out the tug would then be 600-800 feet down. That seems like it would be below crush depth had the tug any remaining air pockets at that point.

Marine Express does maintain their equipment in very good condition. Our speculation is that with the large sail area of the tow ( a crane) and the strong winds upwards of 60 knots the small tug simply could not stay ahead of the tow in the 12-15 ft very close interval seas.[/QUOTE]

I read in the gCaptain article that she had 1400 feet of tow wire out. Even if she was way beyond crush depth would it not still be worth while to at least attempt to pull her back up again? There must be something to be gained from reclaiming the hull rather than just cutting it loose and letting it go to the bottom.

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I cannot believe that the tow gear, winch brake, winch mounts, etc, would withstand the weight of the sinking tug hanging at the end of the wire.

Even if it did, I cannot believe it would continue to do so rising and falling in the swell while any salvage effort were underway. Salvage would be incredibly dangerous and carry with it the risk of an oil spill, and the loss of the crane barge.

I do not believe that the tug would crush or that there is any “crush depth.” There are few if any unvented tanks, and the tug is too small to have significant pressure differentials that would crush or blow out bulkheads while she sank, as sometimes happens with large sinking ships. The fact that no oil spill was reported is a pretty good indication that she did not “crush.”

If it could be done, the cost of salvaging the tug would exceed its value. Even if it could be salvaged for free by magic, the cost of rebuilding would probably exceed its completed value.

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Cal Spill Response just tweeted that the crane barge has been successfully towed to Port of LA/LB with no signs of oil spill or wildlife impact. Didn’t mention anything about the tug. Strange there was no update today from the USCG or anyone. So does this barge look like it has a tug, er two tugs, attached to it? I’ll try to dig something up tomorrow morning.

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[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;105804]I read in the gCaptain article that she had 1400 feet of tow wire out. Even if she was way beyond crush depth would it not still be worth while to at least attempt to pull her back up again? There must be something to be gained from reclaiming the hull rather than just cutting it loose and letting it go to the bottom.[/QUOTE]

The tug had a drum equipped with 1400 feet of 1.5" tow wire. I doubt this would be enough to support the weight of a 83ft tug hanging by it in turbulent seas. This is all assuming the captain did not release the brake and try to abandon the tow to begin with.

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[QUOTE=Mikey;105827]Cal Spill Response just tweeted that the crane barge has been successfully towed to Port of LA/LB with no signs of oil spill or wildlife impact. Didn’t mention anything about the tug. Strange there was no update today from the USCG or anyone. So does this barge look like it has a tug, er two tugs, attached to it?[/QUOTE]

well, that obviously is the stern of the barge and looks like it is making way towards the camera but I don’t think that it is under tow in the photo because no emergency tow wire is sighted and the “goofball” appears to be alongside and its pickup line off the stern is visible. Probably the crane makes the barge drift stern to wind? Likely a photo from the rescue tug sent to retrieve it or a CG cutter?

If the barge is already in LA/LB, then I think it is also safe to say that the DELTA CAPTAIN was not still attached.

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The tug must be peacefully resting at 2400’.

Insurance will pay the claim.

What about the 20000 gallons of fuel though? Is that and issue? May not see any sheen for years but sooner or later, it will release.

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It’s diesel should dissipate rather quickly.

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DB#5 has a propensity to sail. Being a bit of a WAFI at heart i had the operator swing the boom around, getting a feel for her sailing ability… Tall draworks and a fairly light barge. A handfull in heavy weather for a lightly built 1600 hp boat. Rumor has it that she flooded from the lazarette forward, into the E/R. Two gas pumps couldn’t keep up. Glad they all made it off OK.

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BARGE 5 - 8758354 - FLOATING CRANE
http://maritime-connector.com/ship/barge-5-8758354/
From
Cal Spill Watch - Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR)


Specifically:

From California Department of Fish and Wildlife
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/documents/DocViewer.aspx
Delta Captain, Crane Barge 1
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?documentversionid=106767
Delta Captain, Crane Barge 2
https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?documentversionid=106768

DB 5 was recovered by tugs LIBERTY (dispatched from Oakland, CA) and MARSHALL FOSS on 4/14
(LIBERTY arriving Long Beach as I type this)

LIBERTY:


and
MARSHALL FOSS

IDs from message 7 above (tnx)

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Tug sank Saturday during towing. Here’s another pic. Thanks David.

64488_440054802755514_1001015166_n.jpg960×720

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[QUOTE=DredgeBoyThrottleJocky;106041]Rumor has it that she flooded from the lazarette forward, into the E/R. Two gas pumps couldn’t keep up. Glad they all made it off OK.[/QUOTE]

Open conduit run between watertight compartments. This is not the first incident like this. Recently here in the bay a dredge barge started taking on water in the fwd rake and the engine room ended up flooding.and the barge had to be pushed on to a beach. Another fishing/research vessel pinholed a channel cooler into a ballast tank and was losing engine cooling water. Normally in this case you would simply press the tank to stop the loss of cooling water but… there was an open conduit run through the tank and it could not be pressed. They had to pour concrete instead.

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[QUOTE=87cr250r;106196]Open conduit run between watertight compartments. This is not the first incident like this. Recently here in the bay a dredge barge started taking on water in the fwd rake and the engine room ended up flooding.and the barge had to be pushed on to a beach. Another fishing/research vessel pinholed a channel cooler into a ballast tank and was losing engine cooling water. Normally in this case you would simply press the tank to stop the loss of cooling water but… there was an open conduit run through the tank and it could not be pressed. They had to pour concrete instead.[/QUOTE]

this is why tugs need to be inspected like every other vessel and why the USCG cannot get their heads of out their asses and implement an inspection regulation for them amazes me. Too many towing vessel incidents happening attributable to lack of regulation. Lots of good seaworthy tugs out there but just as many old unseaworthy ones as well and they need to be brought up to snuff for all of our sakes.

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We were dispatched out of Oakland on Saturday night (April 13th) to a position off Point Sur where Barge DB-5 was last reported (USCG Cutter Sockeye updating the position). We arrived on scene along with the Marshal Foss on Sunday morning to assess the situation. The Barge was broadside to the seas (swells up to 20 feet) making way @ 4+ knots being pushed by Gale force winds (of 40+ knots). We inspected the barge emergency tow wire (with goof ball attached). It was only 1 1/4" wire, in rusty condition, the eye of the wire made using only 2 crosby clips. The wire was “dogged off” to the starboard bow of the barge…needless to say it was certainly not sufficient to tow with this configuration (considering conditions…or in any ocean conditions). So plan B was utilized…deploy the Orville Hook (luckily I had watched the instructional video 2 weeks prior…remember thinking “I doubt I’ll ever have to do that”…ha). After rigging the hook into our 10" x 200’ Samson (Nylon) line (other end with thimble shacked into the tow wire), bridle of hook attached to 90’ of poly line and spliced into he float…over the tow pin table she goes! I approached the barge from windward first aiming mid barge and then cutting in front of the bow as close as possible…trying to keep a visual on the now tiny orange float suspending the hook trailing 200’ astern of us…disappearing and appearing again in heavy seas. Spent about 1/2 hour on the approach, was hard to keep the relative speed down (to keep float above water) with the barge drifting down wind @ 4+ knots)…after crossing the bow I aimed for the stern of the barge and crossed my fingers. Finally I saw the nylon take a strain, and the bow of the barge start to swing, couldn’t believe it! Dumped out 6 layers of wire trying to keep a strain (was so worried that hook would slide out of the chain)…headed south on an easy bell and prayed our make up would hold till we could find calmer seas near L.A. We considered the possibility of the Tug being attached, but considering the dynamics of the barge (ptiching/rolling in heavy seas) 2400’ of water depth, and 1400’ of tow wire, seemed very unlikely. After a slow tow to L.A. (transiting S. of the Channel Islands), we found a lee E. of Catalina on Wed. morning (NW 10-15, 2’-4’). The Marshal Foss had to follow us the whole way (thanks guys)…we used them to hold the stern of the barge into weather (giving us more of lee @ the stern), hauled up the gear (a slow process, it was a heavy pull as the tow wire from the Delta Capt. was still attached, we had to haul in the 200’ of nylon in 3 bites using plasma stoppers hooked into the swede on the suitcase drum. After a final “white-knuckle” pull (suitcase drum not enough so transferred it to the Tow winch with better gearing) the hook & chain appeared on deck (just caught the pigtail about 8 links down from the fish plate). Shackled in our wire, attached the chain (with Delta Capt. wire attached) to our deck with wire straps and cut it free from the barge gear. Then headed for a dump-site designated by the USCG about 17 miles E. of Catalina (@ SE corner of Traffic Lanes) and cut the wire free! Finally headed into Long beach with the barge, flopped in the anchorage, and secured her @ the Foss dock in Long Beach. What a trip, many thanks to my awesome crew, great job on deck, thanks to the Marshal Foss & her crew for their assistance. So glad that the crew of the Delta Captain all made it alive. A reminder to all us Mariners to respect the power of the Ocean, and hopefully a wake up call to vessel owners to ensure their equipment is maintained to withstand the harsh elements of the Sea.