That sinking feeling

A rash of tug sinkings in the past year has left the Canadian taxpayer on the hook for big bucks.

In July 2014 the former RCN tug St.Charles, later Chebucto Sea, but since 2012 carrying the unlikely name of Matterhorn sank at her berth in Mount Carmel, NL and remains sunken and leaking petroleum. Its registration was suspended July 31, 2014.
The Coast Guard has finally become fed up with the Owner's lack of action in cleaning up and raising the vessel and have issued an ultimatum (now past) . The Coast Guard will do the clean up and bill the owner, but so far have indicated that they will not be raising the wreck - that is up to the owner.
 

Believed to be associated with another Newfoundland tug owning concern, the owner is a single ship company and may well be able to dodge the bullet and get out from under the obligation by walking away.


That is certainly the case with Chaulk Determination, the former Commodore Straits and Haida Brave, which  sank at Trois-Rivières, QC December 26, 2014. Its owner claimed an inability to pay for cleanup. The Coast Guard hired Groupe Océan to raise the wreck, which they did most capably, but the $1 million plus tab was picked up by the taxpayer.

It has recently been announced that the tug will be towed to Matane, QC and broken up by Méridien Maritime - again at some cost to the taxpayer.

The most recent sinking of a tug and workboat in Cornwall, ON, will have a happier outcome at least for  the taxpayer anyway, since the owners have acted responsibly and stepped up to the plate with their salvage plan and have begun work to raise Lac Manitoba and L.C.M. 131 which capsized in turbulent waters June 22. 

It is not yet clear if either vessel will be worth repairing after they are raised. Lac Manitoba was built in 1944, and rebuilt in 1999. The former TANAC tug was operated by Nadro Marine an affiliate of McKeil Workboats. The latter company has taken charge of the salvage. L.C.M. 131 is a landing craft type workboat operated by West Front Construction Ltd which had voluntarily come to the assistance of Lac Manitoba when it was overwhelmed and sank nearby.

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Saint class tugs of the RCN - from the oldies department -CORRECTED

The Royal Canadian navy built three seagoing tugs in the 1950s with the intention of providing towing services for their larger ships. A large class of Royal Navy tugs built in the World War I era were named after Saints, and the RCN repeated that .
There was not much work for the tugs, and they spent most of their time towing gunnery targets.

ST. CHARLES

St.Charles alongside Bluethroat at Jetty Kilo in HMC Dockyard. Note the large rope pudding on the stern.

St.Charles was built in 1957 by Saint John Dry Dock + Shipbuilding Ltd. It was powered by a single Fairbanks Morse engine of 1950 bhp, driving a single open controllable pitch propellor.

On cradle 6 at Dartmouth Marine Slips, the newly renamed Chebucto Sea shows off its fine underwater shape. Note the red painted fire fighting monitors.

In 1994 Secunda Marine Services bought the tug and refurbished it at the Dartmouth Marine Slips and alongside in Halifax. The tug had never been registered before and therefore had to meet Department of Transport regulations at that time.

 Secunda replaced the wooden lifeboats in davits with a new boat and a derrick.

They found work for the tug using company barges and in 1996 they bareboat chartered the tug to carry pulpwood. in Quebec.In 1996 the tug ran aground near Rimouski, QC and was taken to Ile-aux-Coudres where it was found that the propeller blades were damaged.It also sent a Mayday on October 1998 when it was drifting off Corner Brook, NL.

Later in its career with Secunda the tug lost its after mast and derrick. The wide blue top band on the funnel surmounted Secunda's ships wheel symbol.

The bareboat charter to John E. Canning Ltd of Georgetown, PE, resulted in Canning painting the tug in its own green colours. It continued to carry pulpwood and gravel. On May 28,1999 the tug lost power off Stephenville, NL and it was found that its tail shaft had broken and the the prop was lost. In October Tignish Sea towed the tug back to Halifax and it was laid up.

An insurance claim worked its way though court until 2005 when it was settled in favour of Secunda.
[Read the Appeal court decision here: http://www.shippinglaw.ru/upload/iblock/f61/2006nsca82.pdf ]
Point Halifax towed it to Liverpool for another refit, but following that it was laid up again in Halifax.

In 2008 it was offered for sale, with the not that is controllable pitch function was not working.  In 2009 a Newfoundland company bought the tug and used Keewatin to tow it to St.John's where it was renamed Matterhorn. To my knowledge the tug was never in service, and its registration was suspended in July 2014.

Chebucto Sea also assisted in bringing the distressed bulker Amphion into Halifax. The ship's crew abandoned the vessel in early January 900 km east of Newfoundland. The ship was loaded with iron ore and was taking water from suspected hull cracks. Secunda signed a salvage contract and their tug Tignish Sea managed to board a riding crew, and take the ship in tow to Halifax. Chebucto Sea assisted in the last day of the tow, arriving in a snow storm February 3.

Not a great day to be a deck hand. Note one of the tire fenders has come adrift.

The dead ship Amphion is nudged alongside pier 30 in Halifax with Tignish Sea (background), Point Halifax (right) and Point Chebucto (left).

There have other references to this incident in Tugfax see:

http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2010/02/oldie-from-shoebox.html

http://tugfaxblogspotcom.blogspot.ca/2012/02/flashback-to-1996.html

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ST. JOHN

This tug had the shortest career with the RCN, and the shortest career of the three.  It was built in 1956 by G.T.Davie + Sons Ltd in Luazon, QC and was sold off by the navy in the early 1970s.

It was put to work for new owners Eckhardt+Co of Germany and towed several ships across the Atlantic to scrap yards in Santander , Spain, including the burned out Amvourgon shown above. In 1967* it had the distinction of towing the VLCC Metula to Santander. It was the first VLCC to be scrapped.

On November 27, 1980 it sank off Labrador while towing a barge.Although I don't have details, it is likely that it had a similar problem with its tail shaft.

ST. ANTHONY

Also built at Saint John in 1957, and based at the RCN base at Esquimault on Vancouver Island.

St.Anthony had a major refit in 1994.

It was sold to US owners in Seattle area, but doesn't seem to have entered commercial service and was donated to a religious group in 2001. In 2009 it became Longhorn I owned in Texas, so it may be operational even today.

CORRECTION:
It was pointed out to me that I made typo here: the date should be 1976.
The reason for the scrapping was that the ship Metula had grounded in Magellan Strait, Tierra del Fuego in 1974, while en route from Saudi Arabia to Chile with a cargo of crude oil The ship was holed, creating a major oil spill and resulting in sever damage to he sip, including flooding the engine room. The ship was eventually freed by salvors, but was declared a constructive total loss. It was renamed Tula for the trip to the scrappers.