CAPSIZED TUGBOAT STOPS VESSEL TRAFFIC ON C&D CANAL

CAPSIZED TUGBOAT STOPS VESSEL TRAFFIC ON C&D CANAL    A capsized tugboat shut down the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal to vessel traffic over the weekend, and may not be open until later this week.
   The coastal tugboat Bay Titan, operated by Norfolk, Va.-based Bay Towing Corp., capsized last Friday afternoon while entering the mouth of the canal from the Delaware River. It was pulling a 380-foot barge of 835,000 pounds of liquid sugar on route from Brooklyn, N.Y. to Domino Sugar’s plant in the Port of Baltimore.
   Five of the six crew escaped the sinking vessel. A sixth was trapped inside the vessel and presumed dead.
   While turning into the mouth of the canal, the tugboat slowed down and the barge overtook the vessel and sank it quickly.
   “An investigation is still pending,” said Lt. Commander Dave Ford, a spokesman for the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office/Group in Philadelphia, which is working with the Army Corps of Engineers on the accident. “For now, we see no gross negligence on the part of the mariner.”
   According to the Coast Guard, the tugboat captain was no stranger to the C&D Canal and had made at least 30 canal transits without incident.
   Don Jon Marine, a New Jersey-based salvager, will begin to remove the vessel today. It’s uncertain how long the cleanup with take, Ford said.
   Ocean carriers that routinely use the canal have temporarily diverted their ships around Cape Henry to access the Port of Baltimore.