Dave R1 Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Frank, have you been to see the Irving Johnson? Have you heard anything about efforts to get her back out into deeper water. I saw some video clips and it looks like she's taking quite a beating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 They were going to try and float her off this morning ... but I haven't heard if she made it. I SWEAR I WAS NOT AT THE HELM! HONEST! The LA Maritime Institute built two identical brigantines, Irving Johnson and Ida Johnson, named after the sail training couple, to a design by Crealock, adapted from the older designs (they had to bring it up to current USCG standards). The pair were budgeted at 8 million, and were built at the same time. So the captain, entering my home harbor, ends up on the sand bar next to the jetty, in the surf. The man in foreground is at the end of the jetty; to his LEFT is the harbor channel, and to the right, where the Irving Johnson is, is south of the harbor entrance. BUT, the stern of the Irving Johnson can be seen here, so she must have had to turn toward shore to miss the rocks, hoping to come around for another shot at it. What you can't see is that the breakwater is aligned 90 degrees to this jetty (behind us, in this picture) and there may not have been room to come about into the deeper water. The only thing I can figure is the captain may have tried to "sail into" the harbor rather than going under power, drifted toward the end of the jetty where the man in foreground is standing, and knew he couldn't clear the breakwater trying to come around to port. So he took a starboard tack to try and come around before the tip of the jetty, and hit the sand. The waves then probably pushed her toward shore. There were 10 crew and 10 college students aboard; all had to jump in the water for the rescue, as the ship listed from port to starboard with each wave. The captain directed them to go, one by one, to the port side, sit on the rail, wait for the ship to list over with the wave, and jump in. If they time it right, they are jumping about two or three feet into the water ... when the ship is over to starboard, though, they are sitting on a rail about 10 - 12' above the water. The waves were big enough that some of the folks were assisted by the rush of water over the deck from starboard to port as the ship listed. The Coasties, Harbor Patrol and lifeguards used PWCs with "life saving floats" ... square floats about 3 x 4 behind them. The people jumped off into the 58 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave R1 Posted March 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 I read that a report that the captain was told by the harbor master that the channel had been sounded and was deep enough. Either sands had shifted between soundings and ship's arrival or the ship strayed from the channel or who knows what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 They just dredged it, and the south entrance is the one that usually keeps very clear (thin water boats can always go out the north entrance, but the charts warn that the north side can shoal). But we won't know until after the investigation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 Well, they couldn't float her off, so now she's closer to shore than ever. By the time I got off work and down there, and got a break in the rain, I could only get this very dark picture ... but at least you can see how close she is to the shore. Its rumored that they are bringing some "flotation equipment" from San Diego that may be able to float her off the sand. She worked back and forth with each wave so much that they think about 6' of her keel is in the sand now. There's a bigger storm coming on Thursday, so the hope is the barge can get here from San Diego or the storm won't be so bad ... otherwise this 2 year old boat may not make it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffM Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 Your account and pictures make her seem a majestic, living creature in distress. It's wrenching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Pennington Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 Aye, always sad to see a good ship get grounded. Lets all say a prayer for her. Mark G. was showing me some air bags he purchased a couple of weeks ago. I agreed to purchase one from him. I intend to install it between the mast and cabin as anti turtling power for sailing off shore. Almost wish I had two. Last summer I went out to rescue my Vacationer during a storm. I was on the lee shore. My anchors were not heavy enough despite the rode to keep me from digging my keel into the bottom. I had to work the back and forth side ways to dig out a trough, inch er forward and repeat the process. You migt say it took awhile. If I had two airbags I could have floated her off. I did a little search and found these, although I don't believe they come with a high preasure air canister like Mark's. http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d3000/e1111.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdrown Posted March 23, 2005 Report Share Posted March 23, 2005 I think the Irving Johnson and her sister ship were featured in a Wooden Boat article sometime last year. I saw some footage of the wreck last night with a rather stern TV anchor reporting on the scene about the seriousness of the situation while one of the crew members was dancing wildly just behind him. Needless to say it was an amusing picture. They are sending the new floatation equipment by barge! That seems awfully slow mode for such an urgent situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Diebert Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 A good thread over on the Wooden Boat forum. A couple of videos and an areal view of the harbour. Nice neighbourhood Frank. I am thinking they may be attempting (again) to get her off right about now. http://www.woodenboat-ubb.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=003896 Keep us posted if you can. Amazing thing is after being pounded on that beach for this long, the salvor crew says there appears to be no damage of the hull. Any water inside came through deck hatches....a well built boat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 My wife is going down this morning again to see if they get her off the beach. Yesterday, they attached a 4" line, and were able to budge her a bit with a tug, turning her slightly, and then the line broke. They will probably try again at high tide, so I'll have pictures and a report this evening. The boat is well built; it has hatches between areas below decks, so they are able to keep the water out of her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted March 24, 2005 Report Share Posted March 24, 2005 Alas, the attempt this morning failed. They are trying again tonight, so I'll go down and observe (the rain has finally stopped here). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 They floated her off the sand tonight. I missed the show, and got there as she was under tow to deeper water. No pictures; it was dark and they had the foreground lit up brightly ... where the boat USED to be ... so they all turned out horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor3356 Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 I have been following the story, and see that they now have the ship in for repairs after freeing it. My question for any one that was there. Did they ever set the anchors? I would think they would, but it doesn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hagan Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 No, and I don't have the full story about how she ran aground. The entrance to the harbor is at least 15', and mostly 20' and more. Right around the tip of the jetty, where the guy taking the picture I linked is standing, the sand does build up. But to get there, you have to really MISS the entrance to the harbor. I had thought that perhaps he was trying to sail into the harbor rather than motor in, and was surprised at the current that appears there ... it will tend to push you toward the shore. The breeze is usually on-shore also. A boat that large couldn't tack to port and deeper water because there's a breakwater there. So perhaps, on seeing that he would miss the entrance, he tacked to starboard, but hit the sand at the tip of the jetty. Or, he tried to enter parallel to shore, and come in too close, intending to pinch back up round the jetty tip. That would be foolish, but then again, the guy did get stuck. The person at the helm was not the regular captain, who was not on the ship for this leg. So it may have been inexperience that caused the problem too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor3356 Posted March 28, 2005 Report Share Posted March 28, 2005 Ouch, so much for his license. I would have thought he would have had the engine on stand by. I leave mine running when sailing in, you can never tell if the current or some smart operator may cause you to make a fast move. If you hear any thing else on the damage can you post it. I'm very limited on what information I have been able to get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Diebert Posted March 29, 2005 Report Share Posted March 29, 2005 Thanks for keeping us posted on this Frank. It was very exciting there for a while. I would love to be able to see for myself what damage was actually done. Perhaps there will be a damage report appear somewhere eventually. It would also be nice to eventually find out what actually went wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Diebert Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Here are some damge images and some current info on the Irving Johnson. http://www.woodenboat-ubb.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=003961 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stump Posted June 8, 2005 Report Share Posted June 8, 2005 Great link Tim!!! 8) 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted June 9, 2005 Report Share Posted June 9, 2005 Thanks TIm. I wondered how she came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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