Last Friday was the 14th anniversary of 9/11.
Most of us remember how the citizenry came together to give aid and comfort to one another as we witnessed the horrific acts of terrorism as they unfolded in New York City, the fields of Western Pennsylvania and the Pentagon.
Acts of heroism abounded, including every first responder who answered the call to go to the site of the attacks.
Count among the heroes those fleeing for their own lives who took the time to help the elderly and infirm escape the calamity.
In New York City, the boating community should also be collectively acknowledged as heroes.
When the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were attacked, the tunnels and bridges in and out of the city were closed and the subway was shut down.
For the first time in over a hundred years, the only way on or off Manhattan Island was by boat.
When the Twin Towers collapsed, the Coast Guard put out a radio call to all available boaters willing to help in the evacuation of Lower Manhattan to rendezvous at Governor’s Island, a 172-acre tract of land that was once a Coast guard installation that is within spittin’ distance of the southern tip of Lower Manhattan.
By all accounts, within 20 minutes, hundreds of boats — tugs, commercial vessels and pleasure craft — were converging on Lower Manhattan.
On that day, the Coast Guard was less concerned with what a vessel’s posted capacity was and more interested in how many people a vessel could hold.
Within nine hours, 500,000 people had been evacuated from Manhattan, a far greater number than the 339,000 British and French soldiers who were evacuated from Dunkirk, France by boat in World War II, and that feat took nine days
Mayday, new name
Earlier this week, Astoria Bay, a 610-foot cargo ship, moored to the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 3 to take on a load of logs destined for China that were harvested off Merrill & Ring’s private land holdings in Western Washington.
The vessel was formerly known as Dry Beam.
In late January 2012, Dry Beam was hit by a rogue wave about 300 miles northwest of Vancouver Island.
The wave, thought to be nearly 50 feet high, struck the ship on the port side, causing a shift of the deck cargo toward the starboard side.
That overloaded the stanchions that restrain the topside load. They gave way under the additional weight of the shifted load, and a number of logs fell overboard while simultaneously destroying many of the stanchions.
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Healy and the Canadian Coast Guard cutter J.P. Tully responded to the ship’s mayday call and escorted her to Ogden Point in Victoria Harbour.
Barge cranes offloaded the remaining deck cargo and stowed it on the dock.
When the vessel was deemed seaworthy, she got underway for Kashima, Japan, where her remaining cargo was offloaded and repairs undertaken.
Before returning to service, she was acquired by a new ownership group and renamed Astoria Bay.
Platypus dealings
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, hauled out Navy barge YC 1476n and has it sitting on the hard at their facility.
Berg Scaffolding of Seattle and Tacoma will erect scaffolding around and over the barge and then cover the structure with heavy plastic that will not only withstand the elements but contain the detritus caused by sandblasting the vessel.
Platypus also has a 40-foot safe boat in the Commander Building that it is painting.
The vessel is one of two safe boats that were built for a Jamaican governmental entity.
In the harbor
On Wednesday, Tesoro Petroleum provided bunkers to BW Kronborg, a 751-foot crude-oil tanker
This weekend, Brian S, the tug that pushes Tesoro’s refueling barge HMS2000 around the harbor to its refueling assignments, will tow the barge to Seattle, where she will bunker the cruise ship Ruby Princess.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts and boat yards.
Items and questions involving boating, marina and industrial activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. News announcements about boating groups, including yacht clubs and squadrons, are welcome as well.
Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
