It’s always nice to see ships at the Port of Port Angeles’ terminals.
For the better part of two weeks, a couple of log ships and a petroleum-products tanker have been dockside, and their presence means economic activity that benefits the community well beyond the confines of the waterfront.
On Tuesday, Siteam Jupiter moored to Terminal One North. She is a 594-foot-tanker and chemical carrier that was built in 2000 by Sanoyas Shipbuilding in Kurashiki City, Japan.
Personnel from Washington Marine Repair, the topside ship-repair business at the foot of Cedar Street, made a minor repair to a ballast tank.
Siteam Jupiter also had her hull area inspected by All Seas Enterprises of Vancouver, B.C.
The inspection is known specifically as an Underwater Inspection in Lieu of Dry-docking (UWILD), and its purpose is just what the title implies.
A vessel that passes the UWILD is able to bypass the periodic requirement to go into dry dock for inspections, which saves the vessel’s owners bilge loads of expense money.
Typically, UWILD inspections are an available option on vessels that are fewer than 15 years old and entail divers going over the side to inspect random areas of the hull’s plating, all of the sea chests, all through-hull fittings, the rudder and the propeller — just to name a few.
In addition to the divers digitally recording the inspection, they also provide closed-circuit imagery to an attending surveyor with whom they are in constant two-way communication.
The Liberian-flagged vessel also was slated to take on stores as well as offload her accumulation of oily water residue that is otherwise known in the industry as slops.
She went to anchorage in Port Angeles Harbor on Friday, and Ron Winterfeld and his crew aboard Brian S, the 100-foot tug that pushes Tesoro Petroleum’s fuel barge around the harbor, were onboard the tug in the wee hours this morning to help send the ship on her way.
Log ship in port
POS Jade has been moored to the T-Pier since last Monday and is scheduled to depart for China this Monday with her cargo of logs.
The 577-foot vessel is the eighth log ship to be loaded at the Port of Port Angeles this year, and if my memory doesn’t fail me now, this is the second time that POS Jade has been to Port Angeles for cargo.
The previous week, the log ship Astoria Bay occupied the T-Pier.
At 610 feet, she is the longest of the log ships to visit Port Angeles and can carry about 8 million board feet of logs.
The smaller vessels such as POS Jade carry approximately 5.5 million board feet of product.
In the case of Astoria Bay, the cargo in the holds will be China-bound after the topside logs are offloaded in Busan, South Korea, at month’s end.
On Friday morning, port personnel at the Marine Drive log yard also were participating in the exporting of logs that were harvested off private property by loading 40-foot shipping containers that will be put aboard a cargo ship bound for South Korea.
Sea rescue redux
Three recent columns were about Durel Wiley, a retired registered nurse and surfboard craftsman who moved to Port Angeles earlier this year — and his amazing story of the 1976 capsizing and sinking of a 42-foot, gaff-rigged, double-ended ketch, Spirit, bound for San Francisco on which he and four others were aboard.
The sinking left the five adrift in the Pacific Ocean aboard two Avon inflatable life rafts.
Ultimately, Durel and his raft mate, Nancy Perry, were rescued. Bruce Collins also was rescued, but his two raft mates, Camilla Arthur and Jim Ahola, did not survive the horrific ordeal.
In the final installment, I related Durel’s recollection of a conversation he had with the Coast Guard officer who investigated the sinking of Spirit.
Durel said that the officer told him that it was possible that Spirit was hit by a submerged U.S. submarine that was operating under top-secret orders and would not have revealed its position by reporting the incident.
Retired Navy Capt. Richard Tarbuck of Sequim, contacted me to say that the Coast Guard officer’s assertion that a sub involved in a collision would not report the incident to avoid revealing its position is contrary to Navy training, Navy policy and the time-honored mariners’ ethos of going to the aid of a distressed mariner.
He suggested that I contact the submarine base at Bangor and ask about the protocol when a naval and civilian vessel bang into each other.
This I did.
In response to my query, Lt. Ed Early, public affairs officer for Commander, Submarine Group 9, provided the following:
“Any U.S. Navy vessel involved in a marine collision is required to render necessary assistance to anyone affected to save them from danger, in accordance with U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Rules. Additionally, Navy vessels have an obligation to assist those in danger of being lost at sea, [which is] also in accordance with the Navigation Rules.”
On the lighter side of things — if such is possible when speaking of sinking boats, life rafts and loss of life — Bruce Collins was rescued by the Coast Guard cutter Campbell (WPG-32).
She was a 327-foot Treasury-class ship that was commissioned in 1936 and had a stellar 46-year career that spanned World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam conflict.
From 1974 until her decommissioning in 1982, her home port was Port Angeles.
For those who missed the three installments of Durel’s remarkable story, they can be read at www.peninsuladailynews.com; type “Sellars” in the box opposite “Search Online Local News” on the home page. The installments appeared June 17 and 24 and July 1.
PA Harbor watch
Last Sunday, Tesoro Petroleum provided bunkers to Yasa Seyhan, a Turkish-flagged oil and chemical tanker that is 600 feet long with a 105-foot beam.
Then Tuesday, Tesoro refueled Golden State, a U.S.-flagged oil and chemical tanker whose dimensions are identical to those of Yasa Seyhan.
Later in the day, Tesoro bunkered Siteam Jupiter and the 623-foot cargo ship Tianjin Venture, which is due in the port city of Sariaya, Philippines, the morning of Aug. 9.
Thursday evening, Tesoro bunkered the Crowley-owned articulated tug and barge Sound Reliance.
On Friday, Tesoro Petroleum had its refueling barge alongside AS Varesia, a Liberian-flagged bulk cargo ship that is 623 feet long and has a 105-foot beam.
Out in the harbor today, Tesoro is scheduled to bunker Orient Approach, a new bulk-cargo ship that is 590 feet long.
Although I’m not prepared to say that the vessel is on her maiden voyage, the best information available indicates that she was put in service June 25.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfronts.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome.
Email dgsellars@
hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears every Sunday.