Beaverton Cove incident update

Click here to see photos. Click the following link for an interesting article in the San Juan Islander: http://www.sanjuanislander.com/port/fh/derelict.shtml

June 8, 2004

The Panther was raised on Thursday and the remaining hydraulic oil was removed. We pumped the oil into additional drums so that it could be easily moved to the solid waste facility on Friday. There, some of the oiled sorbents and debris went to the hazardous waste storage area and the oil that was in drums was recycled. The boom and anchors were pulled out and the spot looks clean and clear, back to its natural state. 

Then the Panther was towed to a marina/shipyard at Port Townsend where they have a lift big enough to lift a 65 ton vessel out of the water. Then it was set on blocks for the 50 day waiting period, after that it will be disposed of through the DNR derelict vessel program. 

We were lucky to be able to get the timing to work out, so that the DNR side of the operation (getting it out of the water and disposing of it) started just after the USCG side of the operation (raising the boat in order to remove the remaining pollutants). In this way, a fair amount of time, work and money (taxpayer's money) was saved, and the DNR program will have that much more to use for another boat that needs to be removed.

June 4, 2004

The "Panther" will be towed by the "Pintail" to Port Townsend to be hauled out.

June 3, 2004

The "Panther" was raised today and is being taken to Port Townsend, WA. An additional 80 gallons of hydraulic fluid was recovered from tanks inside the vessel. IOSA responders pulled the boom this evening and will finish up with disposal of the recovered pollutants on Friday. More details of this incident will be posted soon.

June 2, 2004

The 61' wooden seiner "Panther" sank in Beaverton Cove, just outside of Friday Harbor, on Thursday May 27th.  IOSA responders deployed containment boom around the sunken vessel and began cleanup while divers from Vessel Assist removed 5 gallons of liquid tar and sealed one tank filled with hydraulic fluid.  

By the end of the Memorial Day weekend, IOSA responders had recovered approximately 70-80 gallons of hydraulic fluid from inside the containment boom, in addition to 5-7 gallons in containers, totaling 28 bags of oiled sorbents and oily debris weighing 700 pounds.  500' of boom is presently deployed and IOSA continues to monitor the site while plans are being made for Vessel Assist to raise the vessel at the extreme minus tide on Thursday, June 3.

The owners of the Panther were unable to take responsibility so the U.S. Coast Guard is overseeing the containment/cleanup operation.  9-10 trained IOSA people have responded to this incident at this point, with little notice and over the first 3-day holiday of the summer.