Port Director Steve Miller (left) and harbor employee Chris Smith pump out a listing boat in Shoemaker Bay on Jan. 2 after heavy snow, rain and frigid temperatures led to a problem with the vessel's "sea chest," a pipe between a ship's side and a valve in the hull for draining water. (The department blacked out the name of the vessel in the photograph.)
Earlier this month, a derelict tug boat, the Bee, went down in Shoemaker Bay, and five other vessels almost did, after heavy snow loads and single-digit temperatures weighted down Wrangell.
The harbor department impounded the 60-foot Bee in September, Port Director Steve Miller said Friday. His staff had been checking it twice a day but "something broke on the boat that allowed some more water than our pumps could handle," he said.
The boat went down on Jan. 5 after heavy snowfall earlier this month.
It took $21,000 to recover the Bee, Miller said.
"We know who (the owner) is, but it will take...
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