A privately owned 107ft tugboat, the Tagish, sank
south of the cruise ship docks in downtown Juneau, Alaska during the night of
December 28th.
The vessel was sitting partially below the water next to
the National Guard dock. Officials were at the at the scene to assist clean-up
mitigation and recovery efforts.
Owner Don Etherington said that “I don’t have a clue what
we’re going to do. It’s going to be one step at a time to see what it’s going
to take to get it up and out of there.”
The boat had been a two-decade personal restoration
project of Etheridge, who is board chair of CBJ Docks and Harbors. It had sat
permanently moored at the location. Etheridge said that the vessel was
uninsured.
“It just sank so fast,” Etheridge said. “It was floating
high and dry yesterday and everything was fine, and then I get the call this
morning that she was sunk.”
Matt Creswell, City and Borough of Juneau harbourmaster,
said the sinking was reported to authorities around 08:30 local time Thursday December
29th.
Creswell said the situation would continue to be
monitored, but recovery and salvage efforts were now in the hands of the vessel’s
owner. Cresswell said that about 60 gallons of diesel fuel and 50 gallons of
lube oil on board the vessel. He said that the Tagish was leaking “actively” at
around 11:00, but then began to slow down. Booms were placed in the water at that
time, Cresswell said, adding that he did not know how much of the oil spilled
into the water as of early Thursday evening.
Divers on Friday headed into the water to plug off the
vents from the fuel tank.
