CLALLAM BAY — A fishing boat that sunk in Clallam Bay on Wednesday was raised temporarily — but was too unstable to move ashore.
Global Diving and Salvage Inc. attempted to raise the North Pass with air bags Friday but had to let the 95-year-old vessel sink again because it was falling apart, said Lt. Marina Turner of Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound.
To prevent the vessel from drifting into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and becoming a possible navigation hazard, the airbags were cut and the boat sank in 150 to 200-feet of water 300 yards offshore.
The owner of the boat is a Port Gamble S’Klallam tribal member, and the tribe has agreed to take the boat once it is raised again, said Melissa Ferris, program manager for the state Department of Natural Resources’ derelict vessel program.
The owner will be billed any costs the department incurs with salvaging the boat, Ferris said. Turner said a barge may be used to carry it away in pieces.
Coast Guard Lt. Jennifer Osburn said said Global Diving and Salvage capped the boat’s fuel tanks, which had a potential of 300 gallons of diesel fuel, and there have been no reports of a sheen.
The two men on board were rescued by a boater from Richland when the boat sank Wednesday.
They drove away and remain unidentified.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
