A big crane barge will pull into Penn Cover later today to prepare to help lift a sunken, pollution-leaking ship from beneath the waves.
The D.B. Oakland, a 140-foot crane barge owned by General Construction Co., left Seattle early this morning and is nearing Penn Cove to support efforts to lift the sunken fishing vessel Deep Sea, according to the state Department of Ecology.
The crane barge should arrive in Penn Cove around 5 p.m. today, the news release statures.
Global Diving & Salvage dive crews continue with preparations to lift the Deep Sea, which sank May 13 in 60 feet of water. Divers have completed the two pulling lines under the vessel, which is resting on its port (left) side.
Once the crane barge is anchored in place, divers will start operations tomorrow to attach lifting chains from the crane to the pulling lines under the vessel.
The multi-agency unified command made of representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, Washington departments of Ecology and Natural Resources, Island County Department of Emergency Management, Global Diving & Salvage Inc. and NRC-Environmental Services anticipates that operations to raise the 140-foot Deep Sea will occur no sooner than Wednesday, May 30.
As work to raise the Deep Sea gets closer to commence, the 300-foot barge D.B. General, which carries a 700-ton crane will be brought to the site. At this time, it is unknown when the larger crane barge will be called in from Seattle for the Penn Cove operation.
The Deep Sea needs to be raised and removed because a small but continuous amount of oil is leaking from the vessel. The oil is being captured on the water’s surface inside a ring of containment boom directly above the vessel.
A total of 4,500 gallons of diesel fuel and other petroleum products have been removed from the vessel so far. The Deep Sea still contains an unknown quantity of oil and responders are taking precautions to protect the environment and shellfish resources when the vessel is lifted.
The Coast Guard has established a marine safety zone on waters within 200 yards of the Deep Sea. Vessels seeking to enter that zone must request permission from the Coast Guard’s Joint Harbor Operation Center at 206-217-6001 or from on-scene patrol craft on VHF radio channel 13.
There have been no reports of oiled fish, birds or mammals.
