FROM:RADM Nicholas A. Prahl, NOAA Deputy Director, NMAO and NOAA Corps
SUBJECT:Weekly Report - March 5, 2004
POLICY AND ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUE
I am proud to report that RUDE has once again responded to a call from the U.S. Coast Guard to assist with disaster recovery efforts. On March 2, 2004, RUDE, using side-scan sonar and multi-beam survey technology, found the sunken tanker ship BOW-MARINER about 50 nm east of Chincoteague, Va., in about 250 ft. of water. Despite bad weather, rough seas, and mooring lines from the wreck that had to be avoided, enough sonar imagery was obtained to determine how the wreck was lying and its orientation. RUDE had begun the search at daybreak and found the wreck by mid-morning. The ship stopped operations around noon because of deteriorating weather conditions, and returned to Norfolk to refuel and provide the Coast Guard with the sonar imagery. RUDE returned to the scene on the evening of March 3 to do further sonar scanning on March 4 during a better weather window. The Coast Guard will use RUDE's imagery to plan investigative, pollution mitigation, and salvage operations. RUDE has a track record for national disaster response. In 1996 it found the wreckage of TWA 800; in 1999 it found the wreckage of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s aircraft.
By Josh White
A survey ship yesterday located a sunken chemical tanker that exploded off the Virginia coastline on Saturday, but images of the sea floor were too blurry to detect what kind of damage the tanker sustained. Three days after the Bow Mariner burst into flames and spilled its cargo of ethanol into the Atlantic waters, officials using sonar technology were able to find the tanker resting about 260 feet below the surface. Rough seas left officials with unclear images of the 570-foot tanker, but they could tell that it came to rest on its bottom on a flat stretch of mud and seashells. Lt. Cmdr. Tod Schattgen was at the helm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration survey ship called RUDE -- pronounced "Rudy" -- yesterday morning when he came upon the wreck, about 1.3 nautical miles from where the Coast Guard believed the tanker went down. Coast Guard rescuers saw the ship as it slipped into the water Saturday night about 50 miles off the coast of Chincoteague, Va. Schattgen said high seas made it difficult to chart the tanker, but he said NOAA staff determined that the ship was resting on the bottom with its bow pointing northwest. "We were kind of hoping to see if it's split open or cracked in half, but we weren't able to tell that from what we have," Schattgen said in a telephone interview, as he made the 51/2-hour trip back to shore. "It appears to be upright on the bottom." The NOAA ship could return to the wreckage again today to do further scanning, and Coast Guard officials are still trying to evaluate safety concerns. Thick mooring lines, still attached to the hull, are splayed in the water. RUDE has scanned for wreckage in several high-profile cases, such as the search and recovery of TWA Flight 800 off the New York coast in 1996 and the recovery of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s aircraft off Martha's Vineyard, Mass. The Bow Mariner exploded and sank shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday as it headed from New York to Texas. Six members of the crew survived the fiery explosion and were rescued by the Coast Guard; three other crew members died and were recovered. The 18 remaining crew members are missing and presumed dead. The last surviving member of the crew was released from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital on Monday afternoon following treatment for hypothermia and petroleum gas exposure. A hospital spokeswoman said he was listed in good condition. Industrial grade ethanol that spilled into the ocean during the explosion had largely evaporated by yesterday afternoon, and a small slick of fuel oil from the tanker's engine continued to drift out to sea. Officials said the spill had minor environmental impact, although they don't know how much of the fuel remains in the ship's cargo hold.
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| URL: http://www..pmc.noaa.gov/bowmariner.htm Updated: DECEMBER 2005 |