Tug rips off Zdrive in Buzards Bay

Maritime News Marine Incidents
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Text for the lazy, I’m surprised this isn’t on here yet.

BOURNE (CBS) — Environmental officials are still trying to determine how much damage, if any, has been done to the water in Buzzards Bay, after a tugboat ran aground early Friday morning, spilling as much as 300 gallons of gear lubricant into the ocean.

“We don’t know how much is out there, ” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Rob Simpson,”but 350 gallons has been removed from the boat which leaves about 300 unaccounted for.”

The tugboat Justice had gone through the Cape Cod Canal at about midnight, and was heading southwest, when it veered out of the marked channel, and hit a ledge off of Wareham. One of the boat propulsion systems was sheared off which created the gear oil leak.

As required by law, the captain was given drug and alcohol tests. The alcohol test came back negative. The results of the drug test will come back in a few days.

Emergency response teams spread out over Buzzards Bay in boats pulling orange booms, to pick up the lubricant but it’s not known how much they actually got.

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that’s a bad spot there,very strong currents and very hard bottom just outside the channel.it is very well marked though even at night or by radar alone…my bet is some kind of mechanical problem…hope so anyway for the capt… lots of boats come to grief there,mostly pleasure boats that we don’t hear about though…

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If you check out the link there is a decent news video, they were out of the land cut but still in the canal. It looks like the were close to the channel going into Buttermilk Bay or there abouts. Not much room for error there.