LABOR DAY WEEKEND ROUND-UP

A combination of weather change, some dark nights, wind and a little to much to drink kept us pretty busy over the labor day weekend.  Friday was very quiet, but Saturday, Saturday night in to Sunday the pace picked up.  We had numerous routine tows which included three (3) BUI tows on Saturday evening and early Sunday morning.  Our featured jobs were:


1.  A 1988, 33 ft CRUISERS, sunk at the dock when the un-used Generator cooling line parted, flooding the vessel.

Our main feature recovery was eerily similar to a larger one from Fall of 2009 (See HERE)

A 36 ft DORAL Cruiser ran aground (actually ARock over a seawall) at the 38 mile mark.  This mishap occurred late Saturday night.  We were dispatched to the scene @ 2315 hours.  Captain Delton Jones arrived on scene shortly after mid-night, evaluated the situation, secured the vessel and we made plans to re-float it on Sunday morning.  There were some moderate injuries involved.  (See MSHP Report HERE).  At 1100 hrs on Sunday morning we arrived back on scene with 2 Towboats and a shore party. Captain Jones had spent the morning patching and plugging the large hole in the bow and preparing the vessel for removal.  Captain Tim McNitt of Atlantis Dive, secured air bags on the stern to lift the running gear off the rocks below and to help to re-float her.  Pumps were loaded aboard (just in case) and around 1300 hours TowBoat #1, Captain Meyer and TowBoat #2, Captain Anderson commenced a tandem heavy pull.  AT 1315 hours, (after a rather scary FULL POWER pull by the towboats - - - She was re-floated to the cheers of a very large spectator gallery - -.  Captain Jones's patches held FIRM and she did not take on any water forward and only a minor amount from the rudder seals in the engine compartment which barely triggered the bilge pump.  She was quickly towed to Silver Sands about 1.5 miles away and loaded on trailer and hauled to holding lot in Camdenton. In all a very successful recovery.