Casualty News – Page 387 – Professional Mariner

28 Mar

Liftboat sinks after crew of six is evacuated

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

The liftboat Juan sank on Dec. 30, following difficulties experienced during jack-up operations 70 miles south of Gibson, La. Juan, owned and operated by Montco Offshore, Golden Meadow, La., was operating in the Gulf of Mexico's outer continental shelf in Ship Shoal Block 207, 30 miles south of Caillou Bay. According to company spokesman Troy Gisclaire, the vessel began to…

28 Mar

Premature departure of B.C. ferry prompts operator to bolster safety measures

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

The operator of British Columbia's provincial ferries has agreed to add warning alarms and use stronger mooring systems after one of its vessels pulled away from a dock while vehicles were being loaded. A pickup truck plunged into the water after MV Quinsam unexpectedly moved away from the ramp in the Jan. 9 incident at Nanaimo Harbor. A deck hand…

28 Mar

Heavy-lift ship sinks off Angola after unloading drilling rig

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

The semi-submersible heavy transport vessel Mighty Servant 3 developed a list and sank off the coast of Angola on Dec. 6, following the unloading of its cargo, the semi-submersible drilling platform Aleutian Key. The crew was rescued before the ship sank. No one was injured.Mighty Servant 3 sank approximately one mile offshore near the entrance to the port of Luanda…

28 Mar

Charter captain pleads guilty to manslaughter

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

The charter fishing boat captain whose boat sank while attempting to cross the Umpqua River Bar in Oregon on Sept. 19, 2005, has pleaded guilty to three counts of seaman's manslaughter. In return for pleading guilty, the charter boat captain will avoid a jury trial and is likely to receive a reduced sentence, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton.…

28 Mar

Torrey Canyon alerted the world to the dangers that lay ahead

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

On March 18, 1967, the oil tanker Torrey Canyon ran aground on Pollard's Rock of the Seven Stones reef that lies to the northeast of the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Great Britain. It was the world's first major oil tanker disaster. In command was Capt. Pastrengo Rugiati. He had served as a ship's master since 1952 and…

28 Mar

Pilot falls to his death while boarding a ship at entrance to Delaware Bay

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

A pilot with more than 30 years experience was killed when he plunged into the Atlantic Ocean after falling from a ladder he had been climbing to board a coal ship.Capt. Lynn Deibert, president of the Chesapeake & Interstate Pilots Association, was missing and presumed drowned after the accident Feb. 4 off Cape Henlopen, Del., the Coast Guard said. Deibert,…

28 Mar

Pilot escapes but boat operator is killed when pilot boat capsizes following transfer

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

The operator of a pilot boat in Texas died in January when he was trapped inside the vessel after it capsized during a rendezvous with a 168-foot offshore oil-support vessel in heavy seas in the Gulf of Mexico. A Galveston-Texas City pilot, who had just transferred to the pilot boat from the larger vessel, was also trapped inside the overturned boat…

02 Mar

Tanker plows into Savannah LNG terminal

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

A chemical tanker departing the port of Savannah on a clear night in September, 2000 suddenly veered from the channel and plowed into a LNG terminal, destroying a large section of pier and damaging shoreside machinery. The chemical tanker Sun Sapphire sustained a 40- by 10-foot gash in its starboard side when it collided with the Elba Island Southern LNG…

02 Mar

Grounding of NOAA vessel result of operator error

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

The April grounding of the research vessel Ronald H. Brown on Canada's Inside Passage was the result of a maneuvering error on the part of the vessel's officer of the deck (OOD), according to an internal report by NOAA officials. The 274-foot Ronald H. Brown grounded off Hewitt Island at 0316 on April 23, 2000 (see PM Issue No. 50).…

02 Mar

Explosion blows section of deck off oil barge

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

An explosion ripped a 20-by-25-foot piece of deck out of an oil barge on the lower Mississippi and sent it flying onto an adjoining barge. Left: The explosion ripped open the bow of MM-25. The barge, which was empty at the time, had recently been carrying crude oil. Right: A large section of MM-25's deck was sent skyward by the…