Ship to shore

Yesterday’s big excitement in the neighborhood – the shipwreck was brought to shore. A barge was in the area and the harbormaster Zach pushed the town selectboard to hire them to remove the abandoned boat. I was on a bike ride when I noticed the barge heading around the corner. So I rode over to Grant Street where I could view the action.

The first photo is zoomed in quite a lot. It was hard to see exactly what was happening. We heard later that a diver had to go under the boat and secure straps so that it could be lifted by the crane on the barge. You can see the bridge of the boat at the right rising out of the water.

A short time later, the boat was pushed toward shore. They could not get it onto the boat ramp, so they brought it over to the edge of the marina. Zach the harbormaster and his dog are in the white motor boat alongside the barge. Wow, he handled that boat with such ease, zooming backwards and forwards and in every direction like a type of aquatic dragonfly. The wreck has its back (stern) to us and its front (bow) to the bay. They tried to lift it onto the edge of the land, but it was pulling the barge’s propellers (wheels) out the water. So they had to leave it in the water there, tied up.

We went back at 7:30 pm when the tide was low. We could get a look at the whole boat. Some fellow was there scavenging, that’s his ladder. He had permission, the boat is going to be destroyed and carted away by the town. He had already removed a window and was underneath in the muck working on removing the propeller (wheel). We are trying to get with the terminology!

I was fascinated by the entire process.