| Subj: article on navy sinking ship
Article 1604
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From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.news.trouble,clari.news.military
Subject: Naval Academy sailboat collides with barge, sinks
Keywords: maritime accidents, trouble, navy, military
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 22 Apr 91 18:47:41 GMT
Lines: 48
Approved: [email protected]
Xref: shlump.nac.dec.com clari.news.trouble:1604 clari.news.military:5255
ACategory: usa
Slugword: sailboat
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 479; Id: a0578; Sel: na--a; Adate: 4-22-245ped
Codes: ynbmrxx., ynmnrxx.
COVE POINT, Md. (UPI) -- The Navy will try to salvage a 60-foot Naval
Academy sailboat that collided with a coal barge in the Chesapeake Bay,
throwing one of 12 crew members overboard before it sank, officials said
Monday.
Midshipman 2nd Class Judy Creed was treated at the Naval Hospital-
Patuxent River for hypothermia and released after Sunday's accident.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy officials will investigate the accident
to determine its cause.
Coast Guard Lt. Gary Merrick said the sailboat, American Promise, may
have had some kind of problem with its rigging when it ran into the bow
of the 365-foot barge.
Merrick said that after the collision, the sloop's mast got tangled
with a 78-foot tugboat that was towing the barge. The Naval Academy said
the sailboat sank four hours after the 2 a.m. accident.
The collision occurred in about 50 feet of water three miles
southeast of Cove Point, near the mouth of the Patuxent River, about 50
miles south of Annapolis.
``We have no idea of what the exact problem was,'' Merrick said.
Lt. Ron Turner, duty officer Sunday at the Coast Guard Marine Safety
Office in Baltimore, said Creed was in the water about 30 minutes before
she was pulled to safety by the tugboat crew.
Lt. Cmdr. Mike John, an academy spokesman, said all 12 crewmembers --
three officers and nine midshipmen -- were taken by boat to the Naval
Hospital, but only Creed required treatment.
John said the crew was on a routine overnight sailing mission and had
been scheduled to return sometime Sunday.
The spokesman said all the officers and most of the midshipmen had
extensive sailing experience and all were qualified to operate the boat.
John said the academy would contact Navy salvage operations for the
region to raise the American Promise, but could not say when the process
might begin.
``I don't know what other priorities or what other operations they're
working on,'' he said.
John also said all witnesses to the collision would be interviewed as
part of the Navy's investigation.
The American Promise formerly was owned by milionaire Dodge Morgan of
Cape Elizabeth, Maine, who sailed the sloop in 1986 on a record-breaking
150-day solo voyage around the world.
Morgan, then 54, cut 142 days from the record, previously set in 1971
by a British paratrooper. A Frenchman broke Morgan's record two years
ago by sailing around the world in 129 days.
After his trip, Morgan donated the boat to the Naval Academy.
``I was convinced they would put it to good use,'' he said Sunday.
``She had carried 150 or more midshipmen on ocean training missions.''
Morgan said the boat, which cost $1.25 million, was built
specifically to carry one man nonstop around the world.
``It's like losing an old friend,'' he said. ``But she may be back.''
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