Plans to remove a tug that sank in mid-April at a pier near Sitka are moving forward, with a crane barge making its way toward the Southeast Alaska community from Seattle, according to the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska.
Sitka-based Coast Guard officials along with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation have continued to monitor the 81-foot tug Powhatan, which sank at the Samson Tug and Barge pier about 7 miles north of Sitka on April 19.
The crane barge is expected to reach Sitka on Saturday, but lifting the tug from the water is estimated to take up to 10 days, officials said.
Officials previously said the cause of the sinking will not be determined until the tug is raised.
[Out-of-service tugboat sinks north of Sitka]
After sinking, the Powhatan slid about 300 yards down a bank and settled at a depth of 160 to 180 feet of water, according to the Coast Guard.
Officials report that about 400 gallons of "mixed product" has leaked from the sunken vessel, but they said no pollution has been observed in Starrigavan Bay, where spill booms were put in place to protect Starrigavan Estuary and No Name Creek. The boom at the creek has been removed while the estuary boom remains in place.
Samson Tug and Barge, an Alaska-owned interstate shipping company, owns the Powhatan and reported that the tug had about 325 gallons of lube oil and 12 gallons of diesel on board, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
Test samples of mussels, clams, mud and sediment in the bay were collected for environmental testing, according to the Coast Guard.
"In preparation for lifting operations, preventative containment boom will be increased from 2,800 feet to 3,500 feet," said Lt. Kate Peet, incident management chief at Coast Guard Sector Juneau. "Public notifications will be posted at marinas near Starrigavan Bay, and a broadcast notice to mariners on VHF-FM channel 22A will announce further details to the local boating community, including a 400-yard no-wake zone."