NYC Grounding

[Cal]

You'll have to excuse me now, I need to change my underwear.

[Swampfox]

That was pretty cool. Thanks for the great video. Could have made a bad day even worse!

[Jemplayer]

Man I thought the current coming out of the MS river was bad!

[c.captain]

This move was foolish and the captain is f'ing bloodly lucky that he managed to keep that barge from ripping open its side on that rock. Can you imagine the disaster that would have then unfolded in that 3kt current?!? Can you say full oil barge loose in the middle of Hell's Gate bouncing off of the shore and bridge abutments uncontrolled ripping its double hull open more each time it hit something until the damned thing rolled over spilling its entire load. And the USCG right there just letting all this happen! They should have just kept pushing ahead with the bow of the barge on the bottom until the current laid down. What complete idiots!

Todd Hornbeck should rip the head off that moron and grind it up to feed his dogs. He would have gone bankrupt over the disaster he and his company came within a hair's breadth of facing.

[KennyW1983]

They did a good job!! The only thing im wondering is why not have a small tug on the port bow to help swing him around? Unless the barge came off on its own and they just went for it. Major crisis averted!!

[Clear Solution]

Aside from the incident, one thing that everyone should take from this.... the camera is always rolling. Be on your "A game".

[injunear]

Now...After that captain re-laces his pucker string...What caused the grounding?

[seadawg]

IMHO..after multiple viewing of this video..this was not a controlled intentional manuver..kaos theory is blatantly evident here..proverbial luck abounds..don't you just love the "contact sport" of "tugboatin"..Hell's Gate is many times a "crap shoot" at best!!

[cappy208]

Aside from the incident, one thing that everyone should take from this.... the camera is always rolling. Be on your "A game".

Kameras are EVERYWHERE!

[cappy208]

Now...After that captain re-laces his pucker string...What caused the grounding?

clams are more communicative!!

[cappy208]

They did a good job!! The only thing im wondering is why not have a small tug on the port bow to help swing him around? Unless the barge came off on its own and they just went for it. Major crisis averted!!

IMHO, with so much current running, if a tug on the bow got out of shape, it would get tripped very easily.

I wasn't there, and don't want to armchair quarterback, but I would LOVE to know why he backed out, and then stuffed it back in??!!

[cameraseth]

I wasn't there, and don't want to armchair quarterback, but I would LOVE to know why he backed out, and then stuffed it back in??!!

Hey - this is Seth, the guy who shot the video.

To answer your question - when he came free the first time, he was reversing, and moving with the rushing, incoming tide. When he pulled off, the bow started coming around starboard. By the time he travelled back enough to know he was clear of the obstruction, the nose had come around far enough that when he started pushing forward again, the incoming tide and the forward thrust acted like an airplane wing, and swung the bow so the barge was 90 degrees against the tide (and against the original direction of travel). At this point, the pilot didn't seem to have the ability to turn the nose into the tide at all, and the barge was basically being pushed sideways.

He didn't have the clearance from shore to make a complete turn around to starboard without ramming into the channel marker and a series of underwater pinnacles that were partially exposed that day, so bailing out with the tide was not going to be possible in that position. Since he was being pushed directly starboard by the tide and couldn't turn up, he was drifting straight toward the channel marker, which would have impacted directly onto the starboard side. Smartest thing he did as I watched was ground it again.

Most of my own experience on the water is in sailboats, so I know little of how those barges are manufactured. But I am willing to guess the bow is built to withstand much more impact than the side. She was carrying gas or jet fuel, and the results could have been catastrophic. It would have been right next to a park and almost under the Triboro bridge. As I was watching it drift towards the rocks, I was mentally screaming at the pilot to ground it again.

I wish I had the forethought to get the camera for his first try to get loose. I really didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but it was. I hope my explanation of what I saw explained what happened a little better than my video storytelling did. But thanks for watching and enjoying it. And feel free to embed it on facebook or wherever you want!

[cameraseth]

I should also mention that he would probably have come free within minutes anyway at the rate the tide was rushing in. but why he chose to pull it off that way is anyones guess. I only know what I saw .Damn supertides. I read it also caused a few groundings in the UK.

[Tugted]

Heard the tug lost steering causing it to run aground.

[cappy208]

Seth: Thanks so much for finding the forum. One more question. what time did this happen on the 18th? Curious so I can go back and see what the current was actually doing for velocity at the time.

I asked the other question since the usable width of Hell gate is approximately 580' How he came off is pretty irrelevant, once out in the open he could have drifted through sideways ( I've seen it done) until he got around the corner. Taking into account the length of this particular tug and barge (525'+-) there was plenty? of room, once he got backing out, to just go with the flow as it were. I was just wondering what HIS thoughts were. It is an illuminating chance to learn from. And your video is quite a nice chance to see it happening.

[captbbrucato]

From the look of the current it must have been nearing max flood, most units this size transit at or near slack water. Regardless of why he went aground, it may be he didn't have much choice as to whether he should/could keep it aground or not. The rise of tide in the Gate is substantial enough that his initial ground-point was enough to stop him at the moment of impact but the rising tide would have caused the barge to float free once an hour or so passed. He appears to have had little choice in the matter once she went afloat.
I'm impressed that the assist boat didn't bail out when the whole thing started swinging, that man has the brass pair.
There isn't as much room in that spot to play with as one commented earlier. Pott's cove (with a lot less available water) is more or less directly east of Hogback Light and if he just backed out and let her slide sideways through the Gate he may very well have ripped his rudders and wheels off in the cove or on the Astoria wall. Once he starts approaching Negro Point, the flood current runs off that corner and across to Astoria with a vengence.
You wouldn't have a very good chance of turning into or with the current once you were caught in that rip.
I don't see how drifting through the Gate with the tide was any real option. Kaos indeed, too many things already went wrong, "going with the flow" would have been much worse.
There's a good deal to be said about luck in this one. A large measure of bad luck tempered with a bit of good. Apparently, the double bottom served its purpose.
Kudos to Seth, glad you made the effort to get it on video.