Casualty News – Page 2 – Professional Mariner

Cellphone use cited in collision of towboat with bulk carrier on Lower Mississippi

The bane of distraction-prone automobile drivers for decades now, and no shortage of mariners over that time, claimed another apparent victim in late 2024 as a captain’s cellphone call coincided damningly with his Mississippi River towboat’s last seaworthy moments. At 84 feet in length, the steel-hulled Patrick J Studdert was no match for the 738-foot-long bulk carrier Clara B when…

Quick response limits damage from crane-cab fire

On Dec. 1, 2024, the pipe-laying ship Deep Energy was at berth undergoing extended maintenance when the fire alarm panel on the bridge sounded, indicating that a smoke detector within the knuckle boom crane cabin had activated. A crewmember confirmed the presence of smoke and flames inside the cabin. As the master sounded the general alarm and mustered fire teams,…

Stronger-than-predicted current pushes tow into bridge near recent casualty hotspot

The captain of LCPL Phillip C George had no reason to expect the tide was about to push its tow into a breakwater dolphin on May 15, 2024, but the current in the Galveston Channel in Galveston, Texas, was running about two times faster than predicted, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report. The…

ATB generator failure sparks fire on Lake Erie

The articulated tug and barge (ATB) Dorothy Ann/Pathfinder was anchored on Lake Erie, near Cleveland, Ohio, in the days before New Year’s Day 2025, when a fire broke out in the generator space aboard Pathfinder. The crew secured the space and discharged the vessel’s fixed fire suppression system, extinguishing the fire. A report from the National Transportation Safety Board would…

BREAKING CASUALTIES: Coast Guardsman fatally injured during medevac from cargo vessel

In early March, crew aboard the 600-plus-foot general cargo vessel Momi Arrow, which was approximately 120 nautical miles west of Cape Flattery, Wash., radioed the U.S. Coast Guard with a medical emergency after a crewmember had reportedly suffered a stroke. A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter was dispatched from Air Station Astoria, Ore., and Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Jaggers was hoisted…

BREAKING CASUALTIES: Two mariners die in confined-space incident aboard barge in Alaska

In March, a confined-space casualty aboard a freight barge off Southeast Alaska left two mariners dead and prompted a multi-agency response and investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard. The incident occurred on March 15 about 25 miles northwest of Ketchikan, where the barge Waynehoe was moored near Skowl Arm. The Coast Guard said that watchstanders in Juneau received a mayday…

‘Expectation bias’ caused pilot to stray from channel and run aground near Philadelphia

Algoma Verity was “handling like a deep [draft] ship,” according to a Bay and River Delaware pilot. When the 623-foot, single-screw dry bulk carrier with a conventional rudder arrangement weighed anchor near Philadelphia, on Jan. 8, 2025, the pilot told investigators that whenever he turned the ship, he had to use “significant rudder orders — up to 20 degrees or…

SAFETY ALERT: Container operations with vessels alongside

In March, the U.S. Coast Guard warned that gaps in planning and communication during cargo operations at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have contributed to multiple incidents of containers falling from ships — including one that damaged an emissions-control barge and injured a crewmember — and are urging operators to adopt formal procedures and coordination protocols when…

Oil mist detector false alarm cited in cargo vessel grounding in St. Lawrence Seaway canal

A false alarm from an oil mist detector triggered an automatic engine shutdown and loss of propulsion that led to the grounding of the cargo vessel Heemskerkgracht on Aug. 22, 2024, in the St. Lawrence Seaway off Kahnawake, Quebec, according to a report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). The TSB said the incident originated with a flawed…

Barge runs aground off San Juan, Puerto Rico

At around noon on Feb. 9, the 265-foot petroleum barge Defiant grounded near the entrance to San Juan Harbor, just below Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Puerto Rico. No injuries or pollution were initially reported. While the U.S. Coast Guard did not confirm a cause, early media reports indicated the grounding may have followed a snapped towline in heavy…