136-foot tug grouded on Bligh Reef PWS AK

No accident is usually just one wrong decision... An accident is normally the culmination of a series of bad decisions taken one after another... Abort any one of those serial bad decisions and the 'accident' doesn't happen...

Now, I don't claim to be the expert, but over the years I have gained enough 'experience'
- and you all know how you get 'experience' -
to know that when I start to get that faint feeling in the pit of my stomach it is time to change the plan: I pull the truck over to the side of the road, or I reduce the throttles on the plane and head for the nearest runway, or I put the tiller over and inspect the chart while I come up with a Plan B..

And the reason I NOW know to do that, is because I didn't do that once or twice in the past, and I know how that turned out...

I don't know what happened on that tug, but clearly it was more than just one poor decision...
 
Ok Byrdman,

I will let you off the hook.

I have visited lots of aquatic real-estate on an up close and personal basis. I have polished many a prop to make them shine a little bit more and I have cleaned a few barnicales off a day marker or two as well. I have also removed a couple of those dock cleats by forgetting to cast off a line before disembarking.

I am also sure I will repeat these actions in the future along with a few new ones. It’s what makes boating so dam much fun….and a learning experience.

So now…let’s see, that makes the count a total of 2….now.
 
The most memorable was hitting a tree head on in the dark while paddling a canoe while duck hunting.

That's 4 and I will not publicly admit any others.

Tom
 
While I know it is entirely different, I ground my river boat on sand bars, gravel bars, and others I didn't see it in my 14 foot 30 hp jet skiff every time I go out. I have a number of dents, scratches, and some rivets that leak thanks to my annual May-June chase of king salmon in the local rivers. I have yet to hit anything with my CD 22 but have had some close calls with uncharted rocks by Montegue Island thanks to the massive uplift due to the quake in 64. In my opinion there is little excuse for a tug like that grounding with all the training, equipment, and experience those guys have. As Jay pointed out, it is inexcusable, irresponsible, and shows complete incompetence. I'm not sure how anyone can defend them.
 
Not once...twice!! I may lose my ancient mariner merit badge! The very first time we had C-Cakes out I was focused on my fancy schmancy new electronics and noticed that the boat had stopped rocking or moving we were :disgust :disgust aground!! softly and gently in the mud but still not floating; a little slow engine work and we were free, nothing hurt but my ego and propeller paint :oops: Then, more recently, we were maneuvering to avoid the dreaded errant Bayliner going through Pole Pass and those same propellers found a marked charted rock! Lots of horrible noise but nothing hurt but that ego again and the props. There..I've confessed I feel so much better.
 
Count me in in the Byrdman Support Group. We all do it sooner or later and some are more spectacular than others. Worst I did was bringing a 32 foot Nordic Tug into a narrow, tide swept channel with about 3 kt of incoming current. Missjudged and before I knew it, I was swept pretty far onto a gravel bar and pinned. As the tide continued to rise, I felt the stern rise and powered off with the prop more than polished. When I had the boat hauled to get the prop sent out, my yard asked if I was digging clams. Nope, I replied, "Chasing rabbits!"
 
In my part of the world if you haven't run aground you haven't been boating. Good thing is we don't have rocks but those oyster beds can be brutal.
 
All right, I'll let the secret out. :|

En-route to the last FH CBGT with the BRAND NEW 25 I had an unfortunate meeting with the mud bottom east of Whidbey Island up in Skagit Bay. Seems my course "drifted" a little east of the channel. It was a slow, low impact meeting; the engine died but the prop sustained no damage. Only damage was the black paint on the lower leg/fin of the Suzuki 150...and, of course, my pride. :x

Quote of the day: "Oh, s*#t!!!!...what the hell happened?" [My brother and I look at each other, lift the leg and mud clouds the water...a quick look around and...] "Oh, that red buoy's supposed to be on our starboard side....." :roll: We were both distracted & messing with the Garmin GPS. :oops: Thank GOD it was just mud. LESSON LEARNED! :disgust
 
SF Bay has plenty of mud flats. I confess, have had to push out a 19' Cobalt from the mud; damn, the channel buoy must have moved. Couldn't get the mud out of my toenails for days.
 
I was amazed at SF Bay being so shallow over so much of it. Not what I expected at all. We are spoiled here in the northwest.
 
bligh2.jpg


As Paul Harvey would have said "here is the rest of the story"--at least part, since the CG incident report is not released. The following is not officially documented.

The 136 foot Tug Pathfinder had been on ice patrol at the entrance to Valdez Straits. She was jogging along the edge of the shipping lanes, slow sped one engine. The on land ice detection radar system was not functioning. The tug had completed its survey, with no significant ice found, and had radioed to headquarters for permission to return to port. The Skipper, with 15 years on this vessel, was on the bridge and at the helm, navigating by "sight"--(Radar, Loran and GPS were available-and not sure exactly he was watching, since at 6 PM it would have been dark on Dec 23). The Second Mate (also on watch) was sent down to the galley for dinner, about 9 minutes before impact. He returned to the bridge shortly before the above radio transmission, and went to log it. At about the same time the skipper started the second engine, and gave full cruising power, apparently to an erroneous GPS waypoint. (The assumption that the auto pilot was steering) The 2nd mate noted that he could not see the Racon on the radar and that things didn't look right, and was charting the position, when the vessel struck Bligh Reef. The Racon was only 35 yards from the point of impact. It is speculated that the radar didn't trigger the Racon or that the Racon was too close, and wasn't visiable... The Racon structure is 59 feet high, with a 4 second peroid flashing light visiable for 9 miles, but not a full "light house"

I am told that both the 2nd mate and skipper were relieved of duty and their tickets are under review.

The reason I am posting this, is that even a large vessel, with two 72 mile radars, top line Depth sounders and an old, but top line Loran and GPS, if not properly navigated, will hit the rocks. It is dangerous to put a vessel on a heading or auto pilot without double checking the route that the vessel will take.Be absoultely sure of the vessel's position at all times (and this is why we still use paper charts to double check our position!) In this case, apparently the way point was incorrect, for the position of the vessel, and the skipper did not plot to see where his course would take him.

Every year, a large well equiped vessel goes on the rocks in Alaska. It is almost always the crew's fault--not loss of engines, or lack of depolying an anchor. Many of these incidents the vessel is on auto pilot.
 
I have been aground in the mud twice around here looking for shallow channels. very slow and only for a minute. I did bounce off a rock in a rented boat on a mountain lake once. other then that I'm clean.
 
Hmmm - if we're all confessing to going aground - hmmm - finished counting with my fingers, hold on a minute while I take off my shoes ... :lol:

Hmmm - another accident, in all probablity, while on autopilot - I'll rest my case. :twisted:
 
Any one who hasn't been aground east of the Mississippi is prevaricating.. I got the front of the boat stuck twice while the aft end was still floating in 2 feet of water. Able to back off, but gave a lot of people their mornings entertainment.

Can't do that in So Cal.

Boris
 
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