Casualty News – Page 387 – Professional Mariner

07 May

TSB blames ferry sinking on poor watchkeeping, staffing

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

Queen of the North sank after failing to make a turn and striking Gil Island on March 22, 2006. The fourth officer and quartermaster were alone on the bridge and were engaged in a personal conversation at the moment when the fourth officer should have ordered the course change. The TSB declined to provide specifics about the conversation. The…

07 May

After mooring lines snap in high winds, ship hits three vessels on the Mississippi

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

Sifnos Sun is visible across the bow of UBC Toronto, one of three vessels struck by Sifnos Sun after high winds broke the shipâ€™s mooring lines and sent it across the Mississippi. The mooring lines of a bulk carrier broke while it was docked at New Orleans in high winds, causing the vessel to drift away from the wharf…

07 May

OSV spills diesel fuel after hitting rig

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

An offshore supply boat had its hull pierced when it struck an oil rig, and the vessel spilled thousands of gallons of diesel fuel into the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard said a dynamic positioning system on the boat would have prevented the accident. The Kim Susan Inc. supply boat Grady Fagan hit the semisubmersible rig Ocean Star, in…

07 May

Pilot lost situational awareness in thick fog, NTSB told

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

Â Cosco Busan leaves San Francisco Bay following repairs for damage incurred when the ship hit the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Nov. 7. A patch aft of the shipâ€™s port bow shows where the accident ripped a 200-foot-long gash in the hull that penetrated a fuel tank, leading to an oil spill. The bar pilot on the bridge of…

05 May

Five grain barges break free at Burlington, Iowa

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

The following is the text of a press release issued May 3 by the U.S. Coast Guard: (ST. LOUIS) -- The Coast Guard, working with Matteson Marine, Alter Barge Lines, and railroad representatives, oversaw the successful recovery of a grain barge that was lodged against the foot of a bridge near Burlington, Iowa, today. The barge was pulled off of the Burlington Northern…

02 May

Dredge barge sinks in heavy seas off South Carolina

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

A 196-foot excavator dredge barge, Tauracavor, capsized and sank approximately 60 nautical miles off the coast of Winyah Bay, S.C., on April 11 at about 1700. The unmanned dredge was being towed by the tug American Challenger from Panama to New York at the time of the accident. The crew of the tug noticed that the barge was listing in…

02 May

Coast Guard rescues 13 people from sinking charter boat

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

A 38-foot charter fishing boat capsized and sank near Homer, Alaska, on April 25. There were no injuries among the 13 people aboard Halibut Endeavor. The probable cause of the sinking was mechanical failure, according to Petty Officer Eric J. Chandler with the Coast Guard’s 17th District public affairs office. The 11 passengers were safely transferred to a Coast Guard…

02 May

Bulker breaks free of moorings, grounds after crew leaves stern lines unattended

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

The 602-foot Norwegian bulk carrier Spar Lyra grounded in the San Joaquin River after it broke free of its moorings at the Tesoro-Pittsburg Terminal pier in Pittsburg, Calif. The accident occurred at about 1400 on April 11, as the ship was taking on a cargo of petroleum coke. The ship was being line-hauled along the wharf to realign it with…

02 May

Ferry grounding attributed to practice of cutting inside channel marker

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

When the salvage team was unable to lift the ferry off the reef, the salvors cut the ferry into two pieces. (Sea Tow Virgin Islands/Alan Wentworth) A Caribbean passenger ferry was destroyed because it grounded on a reef after the captain cut inside a buoy to shave perhaps a few hundred yards off his voyage, the U.S. Coast Guard said.…

02 May

NTSB calls for built-in firefighting systems for older ferries

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Maritime News

An investigation of the fire on a Boston commuter ferry in June 2006 has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to recommend that all such vessels have fire-detection and fixed fire-suppression systems in their engine rooms. The blaze in the engine room of the ferry Massachusetts resulted in no injuries but caused $800,000 in damage, the NTSB said in a…