MV American Tern spent the week moored to the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 3.
The 521-foot ship is under charter to the Military Sealift Command and operates at the direction of the Defense Department.
The ship, which is due to get under way Monday for Naval Magazine Indian Island, carries up to 977 shipping containers, and her holds can be loaded with all manner of cargo including ammunition, equipment repair parts, machinery and vehicles.
Her hull has the highest ice-strengthened rating for a vessel that is not classified as an icebreaker — an important characteristic since she makes annual re-supply voyages to McMurdo Station in the Antarctic and the U.S. Air Base at Thule, Greenland.
According to Chandra “Hollywood” McGoff of Washington Marine, the topside repair company at the foot of Cedar Street, the American Tern is taking on stores, and personnel are repairing the anchor windlass and welding some new decking in place.
In 2002, American Tern was the Bahamian flagged MV Kariba.
On the night of Dec. 14, while in the English Channel, Kariba collided with MV Tricolor, a roll-on/roll-off car carrier operated by Wilhelmsen Lines.
Kariba was able to return to port in Belgium, but Tricolor’s keel came to rest on the channel’s bottom in shallow waters.
Kariba’s circumstance created a hazard to navigation, requiring the French and English maritime patrols to station guard ships and wreck buoys around the stricken vessel.
Adding insult to injury and despite the best efforts of the maritime patrols, the partially submerged Tricolor was struck the following evening by the German vessel Nicola and two weeks later by the Turkish flagged fuel carrier, Vicky.
It took nearly two years to empty the car carrier of nearly 3,000 vehicles and to salvage the ship — which in this case entailed cutting her up into nine sections of approximately 3,000 tons each and disposing of her.
Following the currents
Recently, Todd Ritchie, who works at the Port Angeles Boat Haven, found a 4-inch by 6-inch piece of thin plywood that was painted lime green floating at the fuel dock.
The writing on the colored rectangle identified it as part of Lincoln High School’s drift card study for 2011.
Since 2003, Lincoln High School students in Deb Volturno’s science classes have been using drift cards to learn about the ocean currents in our region by conducting an annual study entitled “Marine Tidal Currents Study of the Salish Sea.”
According to Volturno, the students originally became interested in the local currents when a fisherman disappeared from the Elwha River, and his body was found along the west coast of Vancouver Island.
On May 18, 16 students were split into two groups. Each group separately boarded a U.S. Coast Guard boat and was taken four miles out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where group members collectively tossed 250 drift cards.
Later in the day, an additional 150 cards were tossed into the Strait from terra firma at Ediz Hook.
“We want the community to know about the green drift cards so they can be looking for them on their beach walks,” Volturno said.
Over the years of the study, drift cards have been found in and around Port Angeles, Dungeness Spit, Freshwater Bay and Salt Creek. They have been found close to Seattle and well into the Columbia River.
Vancouver Island has been well dotted with the cards from Victoria to Sooke, up the west coast to Tofino and numerous points in between.
Finders of the cards are asked to report three things: the number of the card, where it was found, and the date it was discovered.
Information is on the card about where to send the data.
Yacht to remember
The sailing yacht, Ethereal, anchored in Port Angeles Harbor on Wednesday afternoon for an overnight layover.
She is a three-masted ketch that was built in Holland by Royal Huisman for her owners, Bill Joy — cofounder of Sun Microsystems — and his spouse, Shannon O’Leary Joy.
The $50 million yacht has an extensive array of green technologies.
Light-emitting diodes are used for lighting interior spaces, and the props are driven by a blend of diesel and electric motors that not only powers the yacht but provides electricity throughout the vessel while recharging her batteries at the same time.
Twenty one onboard computers manage the yacht’s various alarm and monitoring systems as well as control the environment within the interior spaces by operating the lighting, shades and heating and air conditioning system.
Ethereal sleeps 10 guests in five cabins and sails with a crew of 12.
When the winds are not cooperating, the sailing yacht is powered by a 714-horsepower Caterpillar engine that will allow for a cruising speed of 10 knots.
If perchance the thought of spending a week on this luxurious yacht has crossed your mind, you may be in luck.
Throughout various times of the year, Ethereal is available for charter in the Caribbean for 225,000 euros a week.
That’s almost $323,000, based on Friday’s exchange rate.
Out in the harbor
Tesoro Petroleum of Port Angeles bunkered Overseas Los Angeles, a 600 foot petroleum products carrier, on Monday.
On Saturday, Tesoro provided bunkers to Bermuda Spirit, an 899-foot crude oil tanker that is flagged in the Bahamas.
And a footnote: MV American Tern was also refueled Saturday prior to her scheduled departure Monday for Indian Island, where she’ll most likely be in view from Port Townsend.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats, ships and strolling the waterfront.
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.