PORT HADLOCK — The Coast Guard will investigate further this week the cause of damage at the Port Hadlock Marina during last week’s storm.
Six boats were damaged in high winds and waves at the marina Monday, said Petty Officer Shay Hutchings, Coast Guard pollution investigator.
Hutchings said there was some damage to the break wall and to the dock but that he didn’t know if the damage was caused by boats or high wind and waves.
He expected to return to the marina this week to investigate.
“Everything was shaking,” said liveaboard Paul Anderson last week.
“It was one of the most unpleasant, frightening nights of my life.”
Anderson said he felt he was in danger “but couldn’t have left if I wanted to.”
The Coast Guard received a report at about 8:30 a.m. Monday that three to six boats had sunk or were sinking at the marina, Hutchings said.
He found three boats against the break wall and debris in the water from another boat that had broken apart.
Two others were towed away, he said.
A rainbow sheen, probably from gas and oil from the boat that had broken apart, was in the water, Hutchings said.
He didn’t know how much had been spilled but added, “I do not think it was a large amount.”
The petroleum was “unrecoverable,” he said, meaning it had broken up in the water because of the waves.
Jerry Spencer, marina harbormaster, said late Friday that he could not discuss the damage without first talking with representatives of the private corporation that owns the marina. It was unclear who that is.
Although the marina is next to the Inn at Port Hadlock, it has different ownership.
“DNR [state Department of Natural Resources] has come, the Coast Guard has come, Vessel Assist has come,” Spencer said.
“All the trouble was outside the marina.”
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Detective Joe Nole told The Leader, a weekly newspaper based in Port Townsend, that all of the damaged boats were buoyed in the harbor and that none was from inside the marina.
No more information was available from the Sheriff’s Office or the harbormaster Saturday.