Salvage plans emerge for grounded tender

Here's the salmon tender Unimak, which went aground Thursday near Chignik. Three crewmen got off safely in a life raft and were taken to shore on the good Samaritan boat Sylvia Star. Magone Marine out of Dutch Harbor has been hired for the salvage job, the U.S. Coast Guard reported today. The 83-foot, wood-hulled tender had about 800 gallons of diesel on board. USCG photo

Nice save

U.S. Coast Guard responders in Kodiak this morning helped save the 42-foot seiner Hail Mary, which was aground and taking on water in Womens Bay near the Coast Guard base. Guardsmen and the four-man seiner crew managed to plug a hole and used a dewatering pump to refloat the boat in about an hour. "The fishing vessel crew used their own skiff to tow the Hail Mary to the dock at Alaska Pacific Seafoods in Kodiak City, arriving at 12:48 p.m.," a Coast Guard press release said. USCG Seamen Grant DeVuyst photo

A 'Super 8' boat meets its demise

The Icy Mist aground in February. USCG photo

The Icy Mist was a so-called Super 8 boat, one in a rising breed of brawny, high-capacity cod catchers nearly half as wide as their 58-foot length. They look indestructible, like a knot of steel.

But not even a Super 8 boat can survive what the Icy Mist went through.

The vessel wrecked at 4 a.m. Feb. 25 on a remote, boulder-strewn beach on Akutan Island. In hurricane-force winds, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew was able to hoist all four crewmen to safety.

A July 30 report from pollution regulators with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation says the Icy Mist "grounded due to operator error in rough seas."

Any thought of salvaging the boat to fish another day have now faded away, the report says.

It's been disemboweled on the rugged beach.

"As the seas continually worked the vessel against the rocks, the hull incurred structural damage and the fish holds became open to the seas, releasing the 135,000 pounds of Pacific cod onboard the vessel to the surrounding waters," the DEC report says.

The report continues: "The bottom of the engine room is now gone, as is the engine and marine gear. In their place are two rocks, the larger being approximately 8 feet by 6 feet, the other substantially smaller."

The DEC says state officials and the boat's owner, Robert Gunderson of Kodiak, are working with Magone Marine Services on a plan to remove the wreck for scuttling at sea.

The demise of the Icy Mist is too bad because it was only in late 2007 that she went into the Hansen Boat Co. yard in Everett, Wash., for sponsoning to her stout dimensions of 58 feet long, 28 feet 6 inches wide (previously the boat's beam was 22 feet). A bulbous bow also was added, according to this National Fisherman article.

The boat was capable of fishing with pots or trawl gear.

But now she's done.

All hands safe

The fishing vessel Patty J ran aground early today in Square Cove southwest of Juneau, the U.S. Coast Guard reports. All five crewmen managed to get into a skiff and another fishing vessel rescued them. The Coast Guard launched a helicopter and a response boat after receiving a 4:30 a.m. mayday call that the vessel was taking on water. The Patty J had been traveling from Auke Bay to Excursion Inlet when it grounded, the Coast Guard said. USCG photo

Trawler rescue grinds forward

Salvage tug Redeemer prepares to haul the stranded trawler Mar-Gun.

Welding the Mar-Gun's scarred hull. U.S. Coast Guard photos taken last Friday

Salvors are making progress on saving the Bering Sea pollock trawler Mar-Gun, hard aground on St. George Island since March 5.

During early morning high tides Sunday and Monday, the tug Redeemer and a ground tackle system managed to pull the 112-foot trawler 45 feet seaward, according to a report from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

"Upon completion of each day's pulling, the F/V Mar-Gun's hull was reinspected for any damage and repairs were completed as needed," the report says.

To make way for the rescue, salvors used explosives to remove rock pinnacle about 15 feet seaward of the vessel's stern.

What's next?

"Removal operations will continue as tide and weather allow," the DEC report says.