Who Woulda Thunk It?
Last summer, I expressed some doubt about a complaint by a Connecticut fisherman that his boat had been pulled and almost capsized by a submarine.
Well, according to the fisherman, the Navy is accepting responsibility for the mishap, saying that USS Montpelier (SSN 765) had somehow got fouled in the trawler's gear, and they're paying damages:
"Alan Chaplaski said the Navy has agreed to pay him for damages to his boat from an incident last summer when the USS Montpelier, a 362-foot-long submarine, allegedly snagged his gear and almost capsized the boat.
"The Aug. 25 incident occurred 95 miles southeast of Stonington as Chaplaski's boat, the Neptune, was trawling for shrimp.
"Chaplaski had originally thought his net had snagged on the bottom, but something began pulling his 150-ton boat backward, causing it to shake violently. He released the brakes on the steel wire attached to the net and twin 1,000-pound doors that keep the net open. That prevented the boat from capsizing."
Musta been a wild ride...
Update 0005 23 Feb: PigBoatSailor offers his own mea culpas on the incident.
posted by Bubblehead at 12:02 AM
4 Comments:
Yeah well.....USS Greenville comes to mind. Be Carefull!
2/24/2006 2:32 PM
Amazing how a little story can change the shape of your fears. I used to be afraid of sharks in the water.
2/24/2006 10:12 PM
It's awesome to see one of those big, black boats surface in the Sound.
My favorite dragging story comes from the Virgin Islands whose waters are crawling with incompetent bare-boat charter sailors. The fellow who wrote the account I read was a crewed-charter captain.
Sailing at night in those waters is seriously frowned upon. The skipper, and his guests were relaxing with a late evening glass of wine when they saw a bareboat enter the anchorage. A young woman who had clearly also been partaking, was in the bow with the anchor. Her skipper told her to let it go, which she did, right into our skipper's zodiac dink. Overheard conversation revealed that these clowns had come from the base of one of the large charter companies.
Early the next morning, our skipper verified what he'd seen the night before -- that the bareboat was indeed anchored in his dink. He started his engine, and proceeded out of the anchorage with the bareboat in tow, its drunken crew still asleep below.
The skipper towed them back to the charter company where he left them on a mooring.
Another story I read was about a diver who was cruising along the bottom when he saw two interesting things: a homemade anchor made of a coffee can full of cement whose anchor line led up to a small boat whose owner was fishing, and a few yards away a very nice, almost new factory made anchor.
Our diver had an idea. He untied the coffee can anchor, and tied its line to the new anchor, and then swam on his way.
Bill
LI Sound Sailor
2/27/2006 8:38 AM
Actually did happen. Boat on sea trials after DMP. Went to PD after escort said it was clear. Incompetence yes. I would never rely on someone else to go to PD. They sent the CO onto new construction. Amazing.
11/23/2006 8:54 PM
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