NORDLAND — Three Marrowstone Island residents are credited with averting a diesel fuel spill in shellfish-rich Mystery Bay early Monday after they boated out to a sinking, derelict vessel and pumped out water that had caused it to list and nearly sink.
State Department of Natural Resources, which owns the tidelands where the 50-foot wooden boat Yankee Sundowner was moored near the tip of Griffith Point and across from Mystery Bay State Park, took possession of the vessel owned by Robert Davis.
Vessel Assist of Port Hadlock and Cascade Towing, hired by DNR to remove the vessel, towed it to Port Townsend Boat Haven marina late Monday afternoon.
With diesel fuel seeping out of the vessel at the marina, Port of Port Townsend officials opted to haul out the vessel so the remainder of between 10 and 20 gallons of fuel could be pumped into a secured tank for disposal, said Vessel Assist Capt. Roger Slade.
Susie Clinefelter said she was rowing a dinghy in Mystery Bay when she spotted the sinking vessel. She and her husband, Brad, accompanied by Marrowstone neighbor Glenn Woodbury, responded to the vessel, reaching it before Vessel Assist arrived.
‘Sinking all summer’
Also reporting the sinking vessel to the Coast Guard were Devon and Jim Surgent, who are building a Griffith Point Road home overlooking the vessel that they have watched sinking for months.
“It’s been sinking all summer,” said Devon Surgent, who was rowing out to the couple’s sailboat moored near the Yankee Sundowner when she also noticed it listing to one side.
“And everyone in the community has been concerned about it.”
The Surgents and Clinefelters reported the sinking to the U.S. Coast Guard, which responded with a helicopter from Group/Air Station Port Angeles.
The orange copter circled the vessel about 11:25 a.m.
Vessel Assist arrived on the scene shortly after 9 a.m.
The Clinefelters said they were so concerned they took action.
“This has been an ongoing scare for us for a couple of years,” Brad Clinefelter said, adding he was frustrated by the slow response to the vessel that has been moored in the bay for at least 10 years, slowly deteriorating to the point that a madrona tree and ferns were taking root in moss growing on the spongy deck.
“For us, more than anything, we want it to go away,” Brad Clinefelter said.
Engine’s submerged
The Clinefelters and Woodbury said when they arrived, the vessel’s two diesel engines were submerged, and the water line was about an inch below an open porthole that would have taken on enough water to sink the 1920 wooden boat.
Brad Clinefelter said when he arrived at the boat, he expected it to have about an hour before it sank. He estimated the vessel had taken on “many, many thousands of gallons of water” from recent rainfall.
Also responding to the scene were East Jefferson Fire-Rescue on Marrowstone Island.
Melissa Ferris, director of the Department of Natural Resources derelict vessel removal program, said the Yankee Sundowner was one of up to 190 derelict vessels the state has listed for removal, but a staffing shortage delayed action.
“We’re still working with the owner on it,” Ferris said. “We’ll be optimistic that he will be able to pay us back and take possession in the next 30 days.”
“We’ve been working on a lot of vessels statewide lately,” Ferris said. “We’re hoping to be able to remove them a little bit more quickly.”
Legal possession
DNR officials taped a notice on the boat, stating the agency was taking legal possession of it.
“There have been others that have gone adrift, including one [boat] in Mats Mats Bay over the weekend,” Ferris said, adding that the responsible boat owners had taken custody of those vessels.
She said Jefferson County used to help the state remove vessels by expediting the process but has not done so lately.
Jake Johnson, who manages Marrowstone Island Shellfish Co. with shellfish beds in Nordland less than a half-mile from where the derelict vessel was moored, called the situation Monday “ridiculous.”
Johnson has been working with DNR, state Department of Health and county Department of Community Development officials to help manage the number of boats allowed in the inner harbor of Mystery Bay.
The state Department of Health closed the outer reaches of Mystery Bay in early August because there are too many mooring buoys and boats, a violation of National Shellfish Program and state health department standards.
Native American tribes, Department of Health, State Parks, shellfish growers, Marine Resource Committee, county Public Health and county Community Development are all involved in efforts to protect the bay from total closure.
Water quality tests have proven to be clean, preventing the bay from being closed to shellfish harvesting.
In recent years, more than 60 mooring buoys have spread across the bay, in addition to mooring facilities at Mystery Bay State Park and several private docks.
In all, there are structures to accommodate more than 100 boats in Mystery Bay.
The number of boats continuously moored in Mystery Bay outside of the State Park is about 30 in the winter.
Up to 73 boats have been noted in Mystery Bay during the boating season.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.