BRINNON — A 65-foot pleasure craft sank near Pleasant Harbor on Sunday, leaving a thin sheen of fuel on the water and a smell of diesel in the air.
All four people involved got off the boat, Avalon, and made it ashore at Pleasant Harbor State Park in a skiff that had been towing the vessel, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jordan Akiyama said.
The vessel, owned by Randy Schleich, whose hometown was not available, had engine trouble and was being towed by a 14-foot skiff owned by a friend of Schleich’s when it ran aground at about 2:30 a.m., Akiyama said.
The boat was submerged later in the day by the rising tide, said Sandy Howard, state Department of Ecology spokeswoman.
The boat had up to 500 gallons of diesel fuel aboard, both Akiyama and Howard said, adding that it was unknown how much escaped into the water.
“A tablespoon of diesel fuel can leave a sheen a quarter-mile wide,” Akiyama said.
“We don’t know how much fuel was introduced into the environment. We just know there was a sheen on top of the water,” one so thin it is was unrecoverable, he said.
An unknown amount of oil also leaked into the water, Howard said.
“There is a diesel sheen and odor in the area,” Howard said at 3:30 p.m.
“Fuel inside the boomed area is being contained and recovered; however, there is a non-recoverable diesel sheen that has spread throughout Pleasant Harbor and into Hood Canal.”
During a fly-over, the Coast Guard found a rainbow sheen — a very thin coating — over about 75 percent of Pleasant Harbor and migrating about 300 feet into Hood Canal, Howard said.
“Evaporation will take this up,” she said.
Howard said there had been no reports of impacts of oil upon wildlife. Seals and diving birds had been seen in the area.
The Coast Guard and Ecology learned of the sinking at about 3:30 a.m.
The Brinnon Fire Department firefighters “responded quickly to assess the situation and in cooperation with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, was able to deploy some oil adsorbent boom to help contain the oil,” Howard said.
The firefighters, Coast Guard and Ecology personnel added more oil absorbent materials and an oil containment boom was placed around the boat.
By mid-afternoon, divers with Global Diving and Salvage had plugged the vessel’s fuel vents to prevent the fuel remaining in tanks from leaking and additional responders have been mobilized to accelerate cleanup efforts.
They were in process of assessing if it was safe to pump out and remove remaining fuel.
Akiyama said that the boat was being moved from one slip to another when it developed engine trouble. It was being towed when it ran aground.
“It was a series of unfortunate events,” he said.
Potentially affected tribes, the state Department of Health, area shellfish growers and natural resource trustee agencies were notified, Howard said.
The Coast Guard and Ecology are investigating the cause of the grounding.
The vessel owner has been cooperating with the response and investigation, Howard said.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or at leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
