It’s being towed ignominiously backwards because of a ten-foot-by-ten-foot gash gaping in its forward starboard hull, and under escort by three tugboats and the Coast Guard Cutter Swordfish. The Naval ammunitions-loaded barge that ran aground on Belle Rock early Monday morning is now continuing on its way to its original destination, Indian Island (near Port Townsend).

“The hole was not taking on water, and it was not leaking any product,” Coast Guard chief Robert Lanier told the Sounder today.

A Navy explosives technician who boarded the grounded tug determined that the roughly 9,000 pounds of Naval munitions it was carrying were stable. The tug was re-floated about 3 p.m. on Monday and freed from Belle Rock. Due to heavy winds, the St. Elias was towed to a sheltered cove at nearby Shannon Point for assessment.

Divers found that the gash in the hull was not taking on any water, nor leaking any fuel, and the Coast Guard approved towing the barge to Indian Island today.

The cause of the grounding is still under investigation.

Lanier said Coast Guard Captain Scott Ferguson, commander of the Seattle-based Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, is “very pleased” with the efforts of various state and federal agencies that coordinated efforts to address the situation. These included Coast Guard stations in Port Angeles and Bellingham, the Coast Guard cutter Swordfish, the Washington State Department of Ecology, Global Marine and Diving Company, and others.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s department was also involved, responding to an early request by the Coast Guard to establish a 2,000-yard security perimeter around the site of the grounding.