NORDLAND – An unmanned 70-foot fishing boat that went adrift in Mystery Bay during a Thursday windstorm was secured on Saturday afternoon and surrounded by an oil containment boom.
“There has a been a slight sheen spotted during two Coast Guard fly-overs,” said Petty Officer David Marin of Coast Guard public affairs in Seattle.
The fishing boat, the Cape Flattery, was one of 13 vessels blown loose on Thursday in the Puget Sound area, according to the Coast Guard’s Seattle office.
It was the only one reported in the North Olympic Peninsula, where warnings against a Thursday windstorm were not borne out, except for a few gusts.
Higher wind speeds were reported in such counties as Thurston, Pierce, King, Kitsap, Island, Skagit and Whatcom.
The Cape Flattery went aground and was listing off Marrowstone Island in Kilisut Harbor on Thursday.
“The owner has been contacted and he has been helping out with the cleanup,” Marin said.
The boat’s owner is Matt Willing. His hometown was unavailable on Saturday.
Marin said the leak wasn’t a large one, and probably consists of diesel or whatever other fluids were on the boat.
“It’s no real pollution scare,” he said.
“The vessel was not wrecked, so it is salvageable.
“It just needs to be pulled off the beach, but that can be expensive.”
Chief Petty Officer James Bayer of the Coast Guard Seattle office said that Willing is required under federal law to contract with an oil spill response company to clean it up.
But since Willing didn’t have enough money to complete the cleanup, the federal government took it over and used money from a federal pollution control fund, he said.
No cost estimates were available for the cleanup, Bayer said.
“The contractor will refloat it and bring it into a harbor and make sure its seaworthy,” Bayer said.
“Since the federal government has taken over the cleanup, that contractor must satisfy the Chief of the Port of Seattle that the spill is cleaned up.”
“Wind blowing from southwest took the boat north, but it was more or less getting grounded because it’s shallow in there,” said Marrowstone Island resident Owen Mulkey, who reported the sinking to the Coast Guard.
The boat, less than 200 feet off the shore at Madrona Road, was taking on water and listing Friday to the point that items on its deck were falling off.
Mulkey said several residents in the neighborhood overlooking Kilisut Harbor contacted the Coast Guard when they spotted the boat drifting.
The Coast Guard sent a helicopter Thursday and Friday to examine the sinking vessel.
Mike Allen, operations unit controller with Coast Guard Group Port Angeles, on Friday said, “Any salvaging is going to be the owner’s responsibility.”
The matter had been passed along to the Coast Guard’s marine safety division in Seattle, he said.
The Seattle Coast Guard investigated each of the 13 boats that broke loose from their anchorages to ensure the vessels were not a hazard to navigation and that no pollution entered Puget Sound.
In one case, the Coast Guard found that the bulk carrier Nurten Ana was dragging anchor in Commencement Bay near Tacoma.
The Coast Guard coordinated a tug to assist the drifting vessel.
The Nurten Ana’s propellers were fouled with logs and debris and the crew could not stop the vessel’s drift.
The tug Wendell Foss kept a tow line on the disabled vessel until the debris could be removed and the vessel could be anchored.
The Coast Guard is requiring the vessel to conduct an underwater survey to inspect for any damage.
