What happened? Did the tow wire part?
Is this incident connected?
I don’t really know for sure but the barge would have been empty if returning from St. Thomas to San Juan. It is a fuel barge that carries fuel for the St. Thomas Power Plant. There was a very large north swell when this occurred (biggest I have seen in a long time). They would have been towing in a beam sea all the way from St. Thomas to San Juan. I did hear that the tow line parted and someone also said that the tow line parted after the towing vessel had loss of power.
Probably after they had shortened up to enter.
Towing up short to enter in a big swell requires a soft brake and a man tending the brake slipping wire when the boat surfs on the swells. When the boat speed suddenly accelerates and taut lines the wire, something has got to give.