Casualty News – Page 5 – Professional Mariner

16 Oct

Coast Guard begins formal investigation into schooner casualty

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsU.S. Coast Guard

(BOSTON) – The U.S. Coast Guard has launched a formal investigation into the dismasting of the commercial passenger vessel Grace Bailey. The casualty aboard the schooner killed one passenger and injured three others. At 10 a.m. on Oct. 9, the Coast Guard responded to a schooner that had been dismasted, injuring four of the 33 people aboard approximately 1 mile…

13 Oct

NTSB cites ‘microsleep,’ complacency in Seattle ferry accident

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty Newsferries

(WASHINGTON) — Fatigue and complacency led a Washington State Ferries (WSF) passenger and car vessel to strike a mooring dolphin at a Seattle ferry terminal last year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday. The contact resulted in $10.3 million in damage to the ferry and $300,000 in damage to the dolphin. The ferry Cathlamet had crossed Puget Sound…

02 Oct

WSF: Bacteria, fungus in fuel filters led to ferry grounding

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty Newsferries

(SEATTLE) — Bacterial and fungal growth in its diesel storage tanks led the ferry Walla Walla to run aground on Bainbridge Island in April, according to a Washington State Ferries (WSF) report. The contamination was reportedly caused by air and water in the fuel system that overwhelmed the fuel filters, leading to a loss of power. “We’ve made several changes…

29 Sep

Tug breaks from dock, spills fuel off British Columbia

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsTugboats and towing

(HAIDA GWAII, British Columbia) — In high winds, the tugboat Tsekoa broke loose from the Daajing Giids dock and landed on the mudflats north of Robertson Island on Tuesday. Fuel was contained inside a boom, according to the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN). CHN staff, the Canadian Coast Guard and Haida Gwaii Marine Environmental and Hazard Response (MEHR) staff…

26 Sep

Freighter freed two days after grounding in St. Lawrence Seaway

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsGreat Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System, shipping

(CORNWALL, Ontario) — A grounded cement carrier that ran aground Sunday in the St. Lawrence Seaway, blocking the transit of more than a dozen ships, was refloated Tuesday morning with the assistance of tugboats, according to news reports and the waterway's managers. NACC Argonaut was en route from Montreal to Oshawa, Ontario, when it grounded between St. Regis and Cornwall…

21 Sep

Excessive speed led to tug grounding in Texas, NTSB says

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty Newsbrownwater, safety, Tugboats and towing

(WASHINGTON) — Excessive speed during a bow-to-bow harbor-assist maneuver led to the grounding of the tugboat CC Portland in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel last year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday. It is the second marine casualty the NTSB investigated in 2022 caused by excessive speed in azimuthing stern drive, or ASD, tugboats while in the center…

18 Sep

Four escape as retired riverboat catches fire on Napa River

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

(VALLEJO, Calif.) — A partially sunken riverboat docked on the Napa River caught fire on Saturday, with four people who reportedly were living on board escaping the flames, SFist reported. Two of the people jumped into the water and two made it to shore on their own. Grand Romance, a replica 19th-century paddlewheeler that had been evicted from Long Beach…

08 Sep

Failure to maintain crane barge results in $6 million loss

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsNTSB, U.S. Coast Guard

(WASHINGTON) — A barge owner’s lack of inspection and maintenance led to the capsizing and sinking of a crane barge last year in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday. The crane barge Ambition was being towed when it capsized and sank on June 15, 2022, releasing an estimated 1,980 gallons of oil. No injuries…

05 Sep

ATF report: Fatal Conception fire started in plastic trash can

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsNTSB

(WASHINGTON) — The fire that killed 34 people aboard the dive boat Conception in 2019 near Santa Cruz Island in California started in a plastic trash can on the main deck, according to a new report by the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper said it reviewed a 197-page confidential report prepared by investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,…

22 Aug

Safety alert: Improving small vessel detectability

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty NewsNTSB, U.S. Coast Guard