09 Jan

Leschi: Pumped up and ready for anything: the dreadnought of Seattle’s fireboat fleet

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Maritime News
Top: Leschi demonstrating its 20,000 gallon-per-minute capacity. Above: Dick Chester (left), Leschi's chief engineer, and Chris Dahline, captain of Fire Station No. 5, in front of the boat's fire monitor. "We're looking for this to be the ultimate fire-fighting platform," says Dahline. (Photos by Brad Warren) Not many vessels are designed to swamp fires with 20,000 gallons per minute —…
Read More
08 Jan

Captain’s body found in wheelhouse of sunken tug

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
Divers recovered the body of a missing tugboat captain in the Mississippi River, the Times-Picayune newspaper of New Orleans reported. Louisiana authorities identified him as a 35-year-old mariner and said his body was found in the wheelhouse of the tug Gate-Way. The Specialty Marine Services vessel sank while it was helping to move barges near the Shell-Motiva oil refinery.  …
Read More
04 Jan

BC Ferries vessel stalls after botched oil change

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Maritime News
(BELLA BELLA, British Columbia) -- BC Ferries' Northern Adventure stalled on its route after contaminated oil was used in an oil change, the Vancouver Sun newspaper reported. The vessel was vital to residents because it replaced the Queen of the North, which sank in 2006. Officials airlifted 45 passengers to Port Hardy. The ferry is suspended indefinitely while engineers cleanse…
Read More
03 Jan

Sunken tugboat Valour will not be salvaged

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
(RALEIGH, North Carolina) -- The sunken tugboat Valour will not be salvaged from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, the News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh, N.C., reported. Three people died when the tug foundered Jan. 18, 2007, off Cape Fear. The vessel's owner, Overseas Shipholding Group, has abandoned an earlier plan to salvage the vessel. It will instead become…
Read More
03 Jan

Captain missing after tug sinks in Mississippi River

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
The following is the text of a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard: (NEW ORLEANS) -- The Coast Guard is searching for the captain of the 52-foot towing vessel, Gate-Way, that sunk with two people onboard early this morning near Norco, La., on the Mississippi River.  At approximately 12:30 a.m this morning Sector New Orleans received a call from the towing vessel Secretariat as well as…
Read More
31 Dec

Tug, barge strike bridge at Beverly, Mass.

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
The following is the text of a press release issued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Dec. 21:   (BOSTON) -- The Coast Guard, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company responded after a tug and barge struck a railroad bridge in Beverly, MA., early this morning. The 35-foot tug Edna, owned by Jay Cashman Inc., with barge Weeks #70, was transporting dredge…
Read More
26 Dec

Cosco Busan pilot surrenders his federal license

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News
The following is the text of a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard. (SAN FRANCISCO) -- Coast Guard Sector San Francisco received Capt John J. Cota's Federal Merchant Marine Officers license today through 'voluntary deposit'.  The Coast Guard requested Cota deposit his federal license with the Coast Guard because the service believes he is not physically competent to maintain…
Read More