'Cougar Ace' taking on water..listing

[Donn]

http://www.boatnerd.com/news/newpictures03/DSCF0060-sm.jpg
(file photo)

July 24, 2006, 11:56AM
Container ship taking on water near Alaska

By RACHEL D'ORO Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A container ship with 23 people on board was listing severely Monday and taking on water south of the Aleutian Islands, Coast Guard officials said.

A Coast Guard plane was circling over the Cougar Ace, which sent out an SOS late Sunday night, Petty Officer Stephen Harrison said. By Monday morning, the 654-foot ship was at an 80 degree angle to the water and appeared to be leaking oil.

"It's sitting on its side, basically," Harrison said.

Near the vessel Coast Guard officers could see a 2-mile oil sheen, though officials said it was difficult to say how much of the ship's 500 tons of heavy oil had spilled. The ocean was choppy, with rain squalls and 8- to 10-foot seas in that part of the Northern Pacific, Petty Officer Thomas McKenzie said.

The Cougar Ace, based in Singapore, was carrying a load of cars to the West Coast from Singapore, officials said.

It wasn't immediately clear what had caused it to list. One crew member had a broken leg, but no other injuries had been reported, according to Harrison.

A Coast Guard cutter was on its way to the area, 230 miles south of the island of Adak in the western Aleutians. The cutter, based in Honolulu, had been on routine patrol 700 miles southeast of the troubled ship when it was diverted to help the crew of the listing ship shortly before midnight.

A merchant ship was closer and headed to the site Monday morning, Harrison said.

Harrison said the Coast Guard plane, a C-130, had a pallet packed with survival rafts and suits ready if the ship began sinking before other help arrived.

[Gresham CA]

That is one ugly ship.

[Donn]

Isn't it? If it wasn't for the water, you wouldn't know it's a boat.

[Paul Pless]

Is it a Bolger design?

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Nope, too sleek for a Bolger design.:D

[mmd]

Listing at eighty degrees and still afloat - my, my. I bet it was really exciting for the crew when it went over. I've never considered the complexity of calculating the free-surface effects of cars before...

[John E Hardiman]

Listing at eighty degrees and still afloat - my, my. I bet it was really exciting for the crew when it went over. I've never considered the complexity of calculating the free-surface effects of cars before...

FLYING ENTERPRISE all over again....

http://www.teesships.freeuk.com/fe090152.jpg

And there was that grain(?) carrier that lost it's dunnage boards at sea and was towed to Bermuda with a 60 degree list.

[Donn]

CNN said 4,000 cars aboard, bound for Vancouver.

[Evan Showell]

Coming soon -- Great deals in the PNW on water damaged, slightly dinged Chinese cars.

[Kim Whitmyre]

There is a dock for these monsters that I pass on my out to the open water: huge, square things.

[Nicholas Carey]

Listing at eighty degrees and still afloat - my, my. I bet it was really exciting for the crew when it went over.Car carriers are pretty much sealed boxes -- I supposed right-side up, upside-down and on its side are all pretty much the same :D

What I want to know is, if your the crew and happen to be on downhill end of the deck, how do you climb up to the top to get out?

I've never considered the complexity of calculating the free-surface effects of cars before...One would hope that the cars in cargo are chained in place. Might be exciting otherwise :eek:

[mmd]

"One would hope that the cars in cargo are chained in place. Might be exciting otherwise " - N. Carey

Actually, I have done the lashing manual for a ship that carried vehicles (not a dedicated car-carrier, but the principles are the same). Though the hold-down chains are supposed to bear the weight of the vehicle, if one on the uphill side happens to let go it is highly unlikely that the next one down the line can support both vehicles, so a domino effect begins.

A few years ago a general cargo/container ship enroute from Montreal to Antwerp hit an iceberg off Nova Scotia and put a ferschlugginer big hole in the starboard bow. It flooded the forward cargo hold, which was loaded with farm tractors - Fords, John Deere's etc. - all properly chained down. The floatation of the big tires floated the tractors with enough force that the tie-down chains all broke, and the tractors floated around in the hold until she made port in Halifax and the hold was pumped dry.By then the tractors had become hopelessly entangled and the salvage crew had to cut them into pieces with oxy-acetyl torches to get them out of the hold. I have a photograph of the hold after it was pumped out and it looks for all the world like a kid's toybox, full of blue and green toys, after it had been violently shaken.

It is pretty humbling when you see the amount of havoc that the sea can wreak.

[outofthenorm]

"It's sitting on its side, basically," Harrison said.


How could you tell? :p

[Bob Adams]

I had a bunch of non -nautical types aboard a few weeks ago. They asked about a car-carrier docked at Seagirt Terminal. I replied, that's a LUSSSOB. They looked suitably impressed. What does that mean? I'm asked. Large Ugly Slab Sided Son Of a Bitch.

[Wild Wassa]

Bolger? ... it is a Bolger a bastard hybrid, with a touch of Mertens-Goossens for height.

Warren.

[Bruce Hooke]

One bit of good news...it was just reported that the entire crew has been lifted to safety.

[cs]

You know "Couger Ace" is really too cool of a name for a boat that ugly.

Chad

[Phillip Allen]

The pic shows it floating very high to have taken on much water...the keel has even lifted out, it's like a big bubble

[cs]

Call me slow if you will, but I'm trying to figure out if you guys are being factitious or not.

Chad

[Garrett Lowell]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-24-listing-ship_x.htm

[cs]

Okay that makes sense. I was looking at the photo above and was thinking that maybe you were talking about a list of 80 degrees, thinking maybe you were talking about 10 degrees from 90 (90 being vertical). This was all based on above photo.

Chad

[Bruce Hooke]

The pic shows it floating very high to have taken on much water...the keel has even lifted out, it's like a big bubble

The photo is identified as being a "file photo." It is possible that it has more weight on board now than when the photo was taken. However, it does not look like it is intended to sit that much lower in the water than it is now. There is a scum line a dozen or so feet above the water in the photograph.

If it is listing 80 degrees it is essentially on its side, which would expose plenty of potential openings to incoming water. They must have gotten the various hatches and suchlike sealed up pretty well since it is still afloat.

[Garrett Lowell]

As it applies to a ship, 0 degrees would be vertical with the amount of list given from that angle. But I can see your point.

[Phillip Allen]

The photo is identified as being a "file photo." It is possible that it has more weight on board now than when the photo was taken. However, it does not look like it is intended to sit that much lower in the water than it is now. There is a scum line a dozen or so feet above the water in the photograph.

If it is listing 80 degrees it is essentially on its side, which would expose plenty of potential openings to incoming water. They must have gotten the various hatches and suchlike sealed up pretty well since it is still afloat.

I'm talking about the news photo taken yesterday...from the keel side the screw is high and dry

[willmarsh3]

One question - is the slab sides so it can go through the Panama Canal locks?

Will.

[Bruce Hooke]

I'm talking about the news photo taken yesterday...from the keel side the screw is high and dry

Oh, OK. Since you talked about a photograph without including a link to any new photos I figured you were talking about the photograph at the start of this thread.

[davidagage]

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20060725/capt.5a2720f6aa254d30b619d1db14cc91e0.aptopix_list ing_ship_wxs151.jpg?x=380&y=266&sig=2kD1xs02DM8iOJ4M18nmnQ--

Pretty good stability

[mmd]

One question - is the slab sides so it can go through the Panama Canal locks? - Will.

She may be sized to transit the canal (I haven't been able to find a listing of her dimensions, so don't know if she is a Panamax design), but more likely the slab sides are to 1.) accomodate as many cars as possible and curved sides do not do this well, and 2.) flat panels are cheaper to build than curved ones so economics play a part, too.

[Donn]

The photo at the top of the thread was taken in January '02, south of Gaton Lake, southbound. I found her listed as transiting the Panama Canal, during the weekend of January 19 and 20, '02.

link (http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/2-03.htm)

[George Roberts]

If I had a long enough paddle, I think I could roll it back up.

I love boats that don't sink.

[Meerkat]

I thought most cars were hung vertically on transport ships these days?

[ahp]

Willanus Wilhamnson (sp?) has a fleet of those big ugly auto carriers. They come into Brunswick GA regularly bringing BMW's, Volvo's and Jaguars, and then take back Fords. A floating box they are indeed.

[Dave Fleming]

dunnage boards at sea and

JEH, are you talking about Hatch Covers? ie: those steel bound wood slabs with hand/hook holds in opposite corners, usually covered with several big tarps that are fastened with planks and wedges around the edge of the hatch coaming?

IIRC, a big fear with carrying grain is that if it gets wet it starts to ferment, building up heat and causing fire in the hold that could burn through bulkheads.

When I worked at Cargo Shoring in San Francisco, a Grain Ftting was a really big job that gobbled up dunnage lumber almost by the rail road car load!

Only shoring job that used more dunnage lumber was an Ammo Fitting.
On a Grain Fitting....
First Centerline Bulkhead plank was 11'6" off tank top.;)

Gad, after all these years I still remember that measurement!:eek:

Back on subject....when I think of the way the Longshoremen lashers would tie down autos in those days! Baling Wire around the axles and cinched up with a Spanish Windlass fastening.
We shorers would then put 4x4 blocks fore and aft of each wheel and tie them all together with 2x4s.
Yeah, really 'hell for stout'.:rolleyes:

Heck when TEIUs, the 40 footers, came on the scene we even loaded Bentleys in them and pretty much shored the same way.

Insurance Companies must have had kittens paying out for damages.:D

[John E Hardiman]

JEH, are you talking about Hatch Covers? ie: those steel bound wood slabs with hand/hook holds in opposite corners, usually covered with several big tarps that are fastened with planks and wedges around the edge of the hatch coaming?


No, I'm talking about the grain boards/dunnage boards used to hold the grain in place. I found the reference in Introduction to Steel Shipbuilding, the NNSB&DD apprintence manual circa '53. The ship was the SS LEICESTER a British liberty outbound with grain in the 'tween decks. Towed to Bermuda and off loaded only to right herself and drive onto the rocks.

http://www.armed-guard.com/tls32.jpg

[Bruce Hooke]

Farley Mowat tells the story of the SS Leicester in his book The Serpent's Coil. I would not be suprised if Mowat "embelished" things a bit -- he's been know to do that -- but the basic outline of the story matches what John described in his post. It is certainly a good read. The Serpent's Coil is in some ways a follow-up to The Gray Seas Under, which is about a salvage tugboat.

[Lew Barrett]

I was trying to remember where I'd heard of the Leicester. Thanks, Bruce.
A bit astray but to follow up on Bruce's comment:
The Gray Seas Under is one of my favorite maritime books. The Foundation Franklin story is "must" reading; probably even more "must" if you're Canadian, and "most must" if from the Maritimes.
The Serpant's Coil was a decent follow up, but couldn't beat the first book. Another thing for people to put on the list of stuff they have to read someday. Frequently available in used paperback form, usually for a buck or two.
Lew

[Dave Fleming]

No, I'm talking about the grain boards/dunnage boards

I have no idea how the Brits do a grain fitting but, I would really be surprised and, I do have some little experience of Atlantic Ocean heavy weather, if a fitting as we did it would break apart.

The very nature of the structure would seem to work against that.

Full centerline bulkhead from that 11'6" measurement up to the bottom of the hatch coamings. Those were 3x12 plank with 2x12 verticals nailed with 40P nails on each side plus the 8x8 and 12x12 braces that ran out to the sweat bands with blocking behind the sweat bands against the hull plating. Bracing tied together diagonally with bolts.

It was as we called it, 'a round the clocker' meaning that we didn't leave the ship till all the holds were done and the captain and insurance type signed off on the job.

First 8 hours regular time, second 6 hours time and a half, all the rest double time including dinner breaks and portal to portal time.

Hell of a hard job but, in the late 1960's with newly born twins at home it was welcome money.

Usually did one a month on vessels heading across the Pacific.

[Bob Adams]

From an AP report:

"There clearly was imbalance in the intake of ballast water. The company investigation ultimately will tell us what caused that imbalance," he said.

A shipping company spokesman.

[Bruce Hooke]

A few notes in Leicester (as reported by Farley Mowat in The Serpent's Coil so some liberties with the details may have been taken):

The problem occurred when Leicester was in ballast, so the "cargo" was 1500 tons of sand and gravel dredged from the bottom of the Thames River.

Such ballast was stowed not in the deepest holds but higher up in one of the upper holds, apparently because the Liberty ships were believed to handle better if the ballast was stowed that way. Of course this also meant that a shift in the ballast had a bigger impact on stability.

Prior to Leicester's near sinking another Liberty ship had experienced a very similar situation, where the ballast had shifted and the ship barely made it into port. Other Liberty ships had simply disappeared with a trace. So, the owners of Leicester decided to fit shifting boards down the center of the hold in which the ballast was to be stowed to try to prevent a catastrophic shift in the ballast. They had H-beams welded vertically along the centerline of the hold and fitted 3" thick planks into them to create a barrier to keep the ballast from shifting too one side of the ship.

Then the ballast was loaded, and about 10 days later in a hurricane off Nova Scotia it shifted, nearly sinking the ship and leading to the whole adventure described in the book. Once she was anchored in Bermuda an investigation was undertaken and determined that what had happened was the loading of the ballast had weighed down the deck below the ballast and broken the welds at the bottom of the H-beams. Then, when the ballast shifted, the shifting wall swung out of the way like a vertical gate and allowed all the ballast to slide down to the low side.

[John E Hardiman]

A salvage Naval Architect died today in a fall on the COUGAR ACE. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060801/ap_on_re_us/listing_ship;_ylt=AuZMrcxxoVRzEEWHdzFK_yhvzwcF;_yl u=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

For those of us that work at sea in the marine field, we must allways be aware that our world is a hazardous place. Wether it is a misstep on deck, or a loose scaffold board, or a uncovered manhole.

Be careful out there.....:(

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

London, Aug 1 -- A press report, dated Jul 31, states: A member of a salvage team examining vehicle carrier Cougar Ace, drifting in the Aleutian Islands, slipped down the vesel's deck and suffered a fatal blow to his head, the Coast Guard said today. The four-member salvage team was preparing to leave the vessel, which is listing almost on its side, when the naval architect lost his footing yesterday and was knocked unconscious. He was flown to a nearby Coast Guard cutter equipped with a surgeon and a clinic and pronounced dead about an hour later, Coast Guard spokeswoman Sara Francis said. "They were on the covered main deck and he slid down a considerable distance, somewhere in the range of 80 feet," said Charles Nalen, vice president of environmental safety quality assurance for Crowley Maritime, owner of Titan Salvage. Members of the salvage team were equipped with safety harnesses and clipped onto a safety line as they moved along the deck. "For some reason, he became disconnected from the safety line," Nalen said. The victim's name was being withheld until relatives could be notified. The vessel continued to drift slowly east today in relatively calm seas 140 miles south of Amlia Island in the Aleutians.


London, Aug 1 -- A Coast Guard Anchorage press release, dated Jul 31, states: A four-man salvage team was able to access and survey vehicle carrier Cougar Ace Jul 30, determining that at least some cargo remains in place and that the vessel remains stable. However, while conducting the survey, one of the team members fell and died from injuries sustained in the fall. The team attempted to board the vessel from vessel Makushin Bay but were unable to climb up the structure. They successfully accessed the vessel using the HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from the Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau. The salvage team commenced a survey of the vessel's engine-room and some of the cargo decks. After the survey was completed and the team was disembarking the Cougar Ace a member of the team slipped and fell. He was knocked unconscious. The other team members conducted CPR on the scene. He was immediately medevaced to the Morgenthau. After conducting CPR for over an hour, he was pronounced dead by the Coast Guard flight surgeon. A safety assessment is under way. The initial survey was successful. The team looked at Nos 1 and 9 decks. The team determined that the cargo on No 1 deck, the highest deck, remains in place. Cargo on the ninth deck has also remained in place. The engine-room is intact and there is no sign of water. There are a total of fourteen car cargo decks on the Cougar Ace. Tug Sea Victory is expected to arrive on scene late today from Seattle. The Coast Guard cutter Sycamore, a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender from Cordova, has arrived on scene. The Unified Command is continuing to develop plans to right the vessel and safely tow it. No determination has been made as to where the vessel will be towed. Weather conditions on scene are reported as seven knot winds from the south-west. Sea state is one foot seas and swells. Conditions are overcast with eight nautical miles of visibility.


Many people suspect that changing ballast water may have contributed to the initial mishap. Under IMO regulations brought in since this modern ship was built, and intended to reduce the transfer of marine species from one place to another in ballast water, all ballast must be exchanged at sea. This is no easy matter, and the stability of a car carrier is "interesting" to begin with.

Lucky no fire has broken out..yet..

Fingers crossed.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

London, Aug 2 -- A Coast Guard Anchorage press release, dated Aug 1, states: The Unified Command is continuing to monitor the condition of vehicle carrier Cougar Ace, evaluate options for improving the vessel's list and plan for a movement of the vessel. Using information obtained from the initial vessel survey, which took place on Sunday evening (Jul 30), the decision was made to take advantage of a favourable weather window and rig a tow from tug Emma Foss to Cougar Ace as a test of the towing arrangement and to gain some additional control of the vessel. Emma Foss is maintaining the tow at minimum speeds to ensure a safe towing configuration on a north-east heading. The tow will shift to tug Sea Victory when it arrives on scene later today. The Unified Command is considering three primary options for the vessel: Towing the vessel to a port of refuge and righting it in port; righting the vessel on scene and then towing it to a port for further assessment and repair; and partially righting the vessel to improve its condition for towing it to a port of refuge for righting. One of the major factors being considered is the extreme angle of the vessel and the difficulty for crews to work on board. The angle also affects what equipment might be needed to effectively right and tow the vessel. A final decision is dependent on several variables including weather, approved ports, stability, safety and expected degree of success. Port assessments continue. A scientific team including the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, NOAA, Polaris Applied Sciences, Alaska Department of Natural Resources and Alaska Department of Fish and Game is part of the incident command structure in Anchorage and is keeping the Unified Command apprised of the natural resources and environmental issues in the port areas being considered. Additional salvage and dive personnel are en route to assist as needed and conduct more survey work to determine the best options for righting and moving the vessel. An analysis of the vessel's fuel and ballast tanks has been undertaken to determine what weights would need to be shifted to right the vessel. As of 0800 hrs, weather conditions on scene consist of south-west winds at 15 knots. The seas are at four feet. The closest point of land is Seaguam Island, 115 nautical miles to the north. Seaguam Island is the next island east of Amlia Island in the Aleutians. (See issue of Aug 2.)

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

I've never rolled a ship - but I have rolled kayaks many thousands of times, one of the classic kayak recovery blunders is the up-one-side-and-down-the-other move, which is mildly amusing when someone else does it in a kayak.

How do you right a ship? Is there a film crew?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Here's the problem:

The fact that she has rolled over onto her beam ends, and stayed there, so far, tells us that:

a) she is stable in this condition (that's the good news...but we don't know how stable - how easily will she roll the rest of the way over?)

b) she was unstable when she was last upright, that is to say the centre of buoyancy was above the metacentre.

So what's the metacentre? It is the point at which a line drawn vertically through the centre of buoyancy when the ship is upright meets a line drawn through the centre of bouyancy with the ship heeled. The distance between this point and the centre of gravity is a measure of how stable the ship is.that will do for now, Ed.

(Only ballasted sailing yachts, which have to be incredibly stable, in order to resist the wind trying to push them over, have their centres of gravity below their centres of buoyancy.)

I just nicked this picture off a website selling teaching software for ship stability:

http://www.seamanship.co.uk/products_/images/deck/ship-stabilitymmscreen-001.jpg

Now, what we have to do is to bring her into a condition in which she is stable when upright, i.e. we need to lower the centre of gravity, so that it is once again below the metacentre.

The obvious way to do this is to add ballast water to the double bottom tanks.

But there is an interesting snag: the intuitive way to do this is to ballast the tanks on the "high" side of the ship. Doing this, however, may have the wrong effect - she may suddenly roll right over the other way (this happens more often than those who train deck officers in "ship stability" would like to admit!) because the weight added is too high up.

But the tanks on the "low" side may already be full, or there may be insufficient tankage available to make a difference.

Hence the need for calculations, checked and re-checked, before doing anything.

Add to that that the salvage crew will be trying to operate hydraulic valves with no power whilst "standing on the walls" with most of the controls inaccessible. The valves can be operated manually but its a swine of a job even with the ship upright.

So, its tricky, and not worth filming because, if its done right, it wil take several hours. If done wrong (see above - ballasting the high side) it can be very spectacular...

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Thank you.
It looks to be a difficult delicate and potentially dangerous job of work - I can see a good training film or thriller/documentary coming out of this - got to be better than "Love Island Live Celeb......".

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

When I were a lad, Smit's made several films of salvage operations, and Wijsmuller made at least one. I thought they were riveting, but then I like that sort of thing. They did not exactly have them packing out the Odeons, though. Shown once or twice to the industry, and that was all. Some really clever stuff, too, like using expanded polystyrene bubbles to refloat the sunken ore carrier "London Valour", when she was blocking Genoa.

Mind you, the bit of film that sticks in my mind was about two and a half minutes of Super 8, taken from the bridge wing of the Bugsier tug "Pacific" as she attempted to make a towing connection with the tanker "Amoco Cadiz" in a force 9 off Ushant. In the course of that short bit of film the tug, which as I well remember was a champion roller, describes the sort of corkscrews that I would not like to put a name to, and you find yourself looking up at, then down at, the forecastle of the tanker, as the tug fires a Kongsberg line (used for tankers instead of rockets, for obvious reasons) over and it is not picked up by the crew as they are sheltering from the seas behind the break of the forecastle.

Glad I was not there!

[John E Hardiman]

Now, what we have to do is to bring her into a condition in which she is stable when upright, i.e. we need to lower the centre of gravity, so that it is once again below the metacentre.

The obvious way to do this is to add ballast water to the double bottom tanks.

But there is an interesting snag: the intuitive way to do this is to ballast the tanks on the "high" side of the ship. Doing this, however, may have the wrong effect - she may suddenly roll right over the other way (this happens more often than those who train deck officers in "ship stability" would like to admit!) because the weight added is too high up.

But the tanks on the "low" side may already be full, or there may be insufficient tankage available to make a difference.

Hence the need for calculations, checked and re-checked, before doing anything.

Add to that that the salvage crew will be trying to operate hydraulic valves with no power whilst "standing on the walls" with most of the controls inaccessible. The valves can be operated manually but its a swine of a job even with the ship upright.

So, its tricky, and not worth filming because, if its done right, it wil take several hours. If done wrong (see above - ballasting the high side) it can be very spectacular...

Actually, what they need to do is raise the metacenter, because she lolled when the free surface became too large. Dollars to doughnuts what happened is some "smart" junior got the idea that he could deballast several tanks to residual at once, most likely the in the inner bottom, and the free surface effect across the beam of the ship lowered the GM to a large negative value. Once she started rolling, the water in the tanks all ran to the low side and the free surface decreased because the height of the tank became it's width. Pity, but I can't find my discussion on stability in the M/V ROCKNES thread here (lost in the change over). There I discuss the difference between initial stability, final stability and lolling, which this is a classic case.

To right her you will need to raise the GM, not ballast her down, though that most likely will also raise the GM slightly. IMHO, the safest way to right her is to shoot some salvage connections into the fore and aft tanks close to CL, ballast her down as much as possible, then shoot additional connections into the bottom tanks on the low side and slowly flood them up.

[George Roberts]

"Dollars to doughnuts what happened is some "smart" junior got the idea that he could deballast several tanks to residual at once"

"Hence the need for calculations, checked and re-checked, before doing anything."

I guess the first thing to do is find out what was going on when the boat went over.

Then you think a bit.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

We are not disagreeing, John.

I was just trying to avoid a discussion on free surface; the metacentre is metaphysical enough already!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

London, Aug 3 -- A Coast Guard Anchorage press release, dated Aug 2, states: A Unified Command of federal, state and shipping company representatives continues to make efforts to right vehicle carrier Cougar Ace and plan contingencies for towing to an appropriate port of refuge if those efforts are not effective. With the arrival of a new naval architect and an additional team of salvage professionals at the scene late tonight, a second, more extensive examination of the vessel will take place. Two pumps and other needed equipment were off-loaded from vessel Makushin Bay onto the Cougar Ace last night for an intended rigging of pumps to begin this afternoon. Another pump is still to be placed on board. The pumps will be set up in series to allow them to function more effectively. Plans call for the pumping of water from No 9 cargo deck which is at the waterline, to No 5 starboard ballast tank to help improve the ballast condition and further stabilise the vessel. Several ports in Alaska are under consideration as a destination for the vessel, which remains stabilised approximately 106 miles south of Herbert Island. The Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau remains on scene as well as tug Sea Victory, which arrived at the site from Seattle yesterday and has replaced tug Emma Foss in holding a towline rigged to the Cougar Ace. An additional private vessel, tug Gladiator, has left Anacortes, Wash, and is en route to assist with transporting the vessel if needed. The vessel has similar capabilities to the Sea Victory. According to Incident Commander Capt Mark DeVries of the United States Coast Guard, a decision on where and how to tow the vessel could still be days away. Depending on several factors, including weather, the determined condition of the vessel, success of at-sea salvage operations and the port selected, transit time for the Cougar Ace to the chosen port could be five to six days or more. Weather on-site is expected to deteriorate today, with south-east winds at five knots becoming south-west at 15-30 knots by noon and shifting north to north-west late. Seas are at one foot with three-foot swells. The seas will increase slightly with higher winds. It is overcast with visibility reduced to one nautical mile currently. However, the Unified Command does not expect that these conditions will slow the project or create special concerns relative to the condition of the vessel. Weather conditions are expected to improve tomorrow. (See issue of Aug 3.)