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Pilot: It was safer to run ship aground

Early edition: After the 378-foot phosphate freighter lost power, the captain and harbor pilot took bold action to avoid crashing into the Sunshine Skyway.

By CURTIS KRUEGER
Published March 28, 2007

	The Antilles II, a freighter carrying phosphate, was tugged away from a sandbar near the Sunshine Skyway just after noon today. Water less troubled: Sunshine Skyway 25 years later (5/8/05) First-person: At the scene, detachment gave way to grim reality (5/8/05)
[Times photo: John Pendygraft]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Skip O'Rourke] Tugs used the high tide to help free a grounded freighter and get it back into deeper water. Readers react From Mike Garrett in Anderson, S.C.: "I absolutely remember when the freighter hit the Skyway in 1980. I was in middle school at Tarpon Springs Middle School when it happened and my mother used to work in Sarasota so we used to travel over the Skyway every day and I was fascinated with the bridge so I was captivated by the tragedy unfolding that day. " When I saw the headline on sptimes.com, I immediately thought of that and went to the wtsp.com Skyway traffic cam to get a glimpse of the freighter, and sure enough, I could see it vividly. I'm just happy that the tragedy was not repeated." From Jay Schwersenska of Valrico: "When I heard the news this morning that a ship had lost power and was in danger of hitting the Skyway bridge I immediately flashed back to 1980. I was working at Sears in the University Mall and all the patrons and employees were in the television department watching the breaking news and realizing that this disaster was in our own back yard. I'll never forget the images of the Greyhound bus and the truck and the cars as they unknowingly drove over the edge and fell to the water below, some of them bouncing off the deck of the ship on the way down. "When I came back to present day, I was hoping that we had learned our lessons from that earlier disaster. I saw that the police had stopped traffic on the skyway so we would not repeat the loss of life, and I read that the harbor pilot guided the ship into a sandbar to avoid hitting the bridge. Even though the bunkers were designed to protect the bridge supports, I'm glad we didn't have to put them to the test. Hats off to the police, the harbor pilot, the tugboat captains, and the media for all their efforts to keep the public safe and informed." Were you in the Tampa Bay area when the tanker hit the Skyway 25 years ago? Tell us how you felt hearing about today's close call. Email local@sptimes.com; please include your name and a contact number.

A harbor pilot this morning decided it was safer to run the 378-foot freighter Antilles II into the ground, rather than taking the risk that it could smash into the Sunshine Skyway, according to an official who spoke to him.

Harbor Pilot Tobias Rose was on board the phosphate-laden freighter this morning, using his knowledge of the Tampa Bay shipping channel to help maneuver the vessel out of Tampa Bay.

But the ship lost both propulsion and steering, said Allen Thompson, executive director of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. That left the ship, carrying 10,000 metric tons of phosphate and 78 metric tons of fuel, drifting toward the mouth of Tampa Bay. The danger of that scenario is obvious to anyone who remembers the 1980 tragedy in which a ship smashed into an old version of the Skyway bridge, causing it to collapse and kill 35 people.

“The key thing was that he realized some evasive action was necessary,’’ said Thompson, who spoke to Rose after the incident. “I think he felt the only action was, put the vessel aground or risk a worst-case scenario.’’

It was prudent to put the ship aground on a sandbar on the south side of the shipping channel rather than taking the risk of running into a hard object like a bridge support, Thompson said.

Although harbor pilots and captains are trained to avoid running into objects like the Skyway virtually at all costs, the new Skyway was designed to make it better withstand another blow, should one ever occur. 

Thompson said he did not know exactly how Rose accomplished the feat of running the ship aground – if it had partial steering capability in spite of the loss of propulsion, for example.

The freighter, which has a draft of 27 feet, was dislodged from a sandbar early this afternoon and is being tugged to Port Manatee for an inspection.

Crews from tugboats and the U.S. Coast Guard capitalized on a high tide as they worked to free the Panamanian ship.Coast Guard officials are continuing to investigate the incident. 

Water traffic has been diverted from the shipping lane from Port Manatee to Egmont Channel. However, boats traveling north of Port Manatee are not affected.

Concerned that the ship could possibly strike a support of the Skyway, the Florida Highway Patrol closed the bridge to vehicle traffic from 5:30 to 7:10 a.m.

No injuries, environmental damage or damage to the ship have been reported. The freighter has a cargo of 10,000 metric tons of phosphate and 78 metric tons of fuel.

Reader feedback

Were you in the Tampa Bay area when a tanker hit the Skyway bridge in May 1980? If so, what were you thinking when you heard the bridge was nearly hit again this morning? E-mail your comments to local@sptimes.com; please include your name and a contact phone number.

[Last modified March 28, 2007, 14:31:31]