U.S. Coast Guard now investigating into what caused the grounding of Bald Head Island Ferry
SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY)– The Bald Head Island ferry, “The Patriot”, is back in its slip at Deep Point Marina in Southport after running aground on Thursday morning around 7 am. Hours after the incident, the U.S. Coast Guard is now investigating on what happened.
“We’re looking if it’s with weather,” said Lt. Shay Hutchings, officer with the U.S. Coast Guard. “Is it anything with crew competencies? Is it any outside elements, or anything in the vessel that could have a factor in causing this?”.
The ferry stopped around 7 am Thursday at an area known as the “cut”, the jettied entrance to the marina. 105 passengers had to be evacuated, but no one was hurt. Ferry service was disrupted and temporarily suspended following the grounding, but officials said service has since resumed.
Officials with the Bald Head Island Transportation Authority said crews freed the vessel from a shoal near the entrance to the Bald Head Island Marina around 10 am Friday. On some aerial photos, you can see where the boat was stuck, near rocks and sand, slightly tilting to the left.
Hutchings says the case is still under investigation, which means they are trying to figure out if it was due to natural causes because of recent storms or perhaps a mistake from the crew.
“This is what we call a standard investigation, because it is under the two hundred thousand dollars threshold. There’s nobody who was injured beyond first aid on board. That’s the standard that we use,” said Hutchings. “There are no injuries that I’m aware of, so it comes into a standard investigation. With it being a standard investigation, we usually like to have it done within thirty days,” said Hutchings.
After doing an underwater assessment, officials with the Bald Head Island Transportation Authority say they found a steel cable wrapped around the ferry’s starboard propeller, which could have been the reason it got stuck, as it could have incapacitated the propeller and made the ship hard to control.
Officials say with the new findings, along with high winds, rough seas, and shifting shoal sand stirred up by recent storms, all that may have contributed to the grounding.
With the recent findings, the ferry company must submit a report to the coast guard within five days of the accident to share their view on what happened, which is something they haven’t done yet.
Once get everything they need, the U.S. Coast Guard well present a resolution into what happened and show it to the company of the transportation ferry. If there were any violations in law or regulations, some steps would need to be taken.
“If the investigating officer did find a violation of regulation, it could result in a letter of warning or could result in a violation ticket. It could also go look into the crew or the captain’s licenses if it did find something that was wrong,” said Hutchings.
