A 74-foot tugboat sank to Davy Jones’ Locker, just off West Vancouver’s Lighthouse Park early last Friday — the second time the boat sank in three days.
The Elf initially and inexplicably sank in the Mamquam Blind Channel in Squamish Jan 14, spilling 1,500 litres of diesel and oil.
Canadian Coast Guard units contained the spill before it could travel into the environmentally sensitive north end of the channel and, acting as the on-scene commander, called in a third-party contractor to raise the boat using a barge and crane.
“Two separate marine surveyors conducted some surveys and their inspection showed no obvious cause for why the vessel sank and so it was deemed safe to tow. The reason for towing was to bring it to the Fraser River for further examination at a shipyard there,” said Dan Bate, coast guard communications officer. “The vessel left Squamish (Thursday) night under tow and around 5 a.m. the vessel ended up sinking in 120 metres of water. . . . Fortunately, there was no loss of life or injury during that event, which is good.”
Because the Elf has now sunk so low, there are no plans to recover it, but that could change if the wreck becomes an environmental hazard. Transport Canada conducted flyovers of the site about 2.5 km south of Passage Island to look for more fuel leaks but found none.
Site cleanup concluded Monday.
