The National Transportation Safety Board has issued its report on a March 26, 2023, incident in which, at about 0500 local time, the towing vessel Uncle Blue began flooding when towing one empty barge on the Lower Mississippi River in Ascension Parish, La. The six crewmembers aboard attempted to pump out the vessel but were unsuccessful, and they evacuated to the barge. A Good Samaritan vessel pushed the towboat and barge to the right descending bank, where the Uncle Blue partially sank. There...
partial sinking
NTSB reports on an expensive partial sinking of a moored towboat
Even a partial sinking can be expensive and the National Transportation Safety Board has just released its report on one that brought a nearly $178,000 repair bill.
According to the NTSB, an obstructed check valve on a bilge pump led to the flooding and partial sinking of a 1979-built Marquette Transportation towing vessel Joanne Marie while moored at the Bollinger Quick Repair Shipyard on the Harvey Canal near New Orleans, in June last year.
The 65-foot-long Joanne Marie was found partially...