PORT ANGELES — The owner of a 42-foot cabin cruiser that washed ashore on the north side of Ediz Hook is working with the state Department of Natural Resources to get the vessel removed, according to the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday.
The Eudora washed up on Ediz Hook at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to a Port Angeles Police Department report.
It is owned by David G. Schroeder, 51, unknown hometown, police said, adding that he had said he bought the boat at auction. No information was available Friday on how the boat went aground.
“We don’t do salvage and since there was no significant environmental threat, that’s where our jurisdiction stops,” said Lt. j.g. Christopher Butters of Sector Puget Sound of the Coast Guard.
Butters said the Coast Guard and state Department of Ecology (DOE) personnel investigated the grounded boat on Thursday to assess the risk to the environment.
The fuel tanks were empty, so about a quart of remaining oil was drained to remove any threat of environmental contamination, he said.
The Coast Guard tried towing the vessel off the rocks but was unsuccessful. The situation was turned over to the owner and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Butters said.
“We make sure there’s no imminent threat from oil or fuel or hydraulic fluids. Then once those are removed from the vessel, we turn it over to DNR,” said Ty Keltner, communications manager for DOE’s spills prevention program.
The vessel first was reported to PenCom as being washed up on the Ediz Hook rocks about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday. Four or five people were reported to be climbing on and around it, police said.
A woman on vessel’s CB radio told an officer that her friend already was on the phone with 9-1-1. He requested extra patrols until he could get the vessel removed.
________
Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at brian.gawley@sound publishing.com.
