Ashley River Anchorages Being Cleared of Derelict Vessels, Charleston, SC, near AICW Statute Mile 469
City finally clearing old, abandoned boats from Ashley River
Diane Knich Email @dianeknich
Aug 31 2015 5:44 pm Aug 31 7:18 pm
A battered and barnacled 25-foot sailboat dangled from a crane on the edge of the Ashley River near the gateway to the peninsula on Monday.
It was the first abandoned boat a contractor hired by the city pulled from the water using a $104,000 grant from the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control, which included $75,000 in federal funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The city of Charleston also contributed $30,00 in matching funds.
Boats that for years have been lying in the pluff mud in the Ashley River are being removed by Salmon’s Dredging, including this 28-foot sailboat that dangled from a crane on the barge.
Enlarge’ƒBoats that for years have been lying in the pluff mud in the Ashley River are being removed by Salmon’s Dredging, including this 28-foot sailboat that dangled from a crane on the barge. Grace Beahm/Staff
The boat for years had been lying on its side in the pluff mud near the U.S. Highway 17 bridge, said Sgt. Chad Womack with the Charleston Police Department’s Harbor Patrol.
Womack spends his days on the water, and knows the story of many of the abandoned and derelict boats clogging the river and causing navigation and safety hazards for other boats.
A man lived on that sailboat for 10 years, Womack said, but about three years ago he apparently fell overboard and died. His body was found in the water near Charles Towne Landing.
Womack said most abandoned boats are found in a mile-long stretch between the West Ashley bridges and the Intracoastal Waterway. He has estimated there are about 15 boats out there ranging in size from 23 to 40 feet.
He hopes to use the grant money to remove about 10 of them. But it depends on how many contractor Salmon’s Dredging can get with the money. It’s hard to know how complicated and time-consuming each boat will be until workers begin to try to remove them.
`Some of them just float by miracles,’ said Patrick French, an officer with the Harbor Patrol. `They look structurally sound, but when you bring them up, they disintegrate.’
Womack said Salmon’s is `going to go for the visible stuff first.’ Then they might try to remove some of the boats that already have sunk.
On Monday, employees were working from a barge to remove three other boats near the sailboat: a 28-foot sailboat, a 35-foot Bayliner motorboat and an old houseboat.
Womack said the police do all they can to find out who owns the boats before they use grant money to remove them. It’s an owner’s responsibility to pull a boat out of the water, he said. `And we pursue people criminally for abandoning boats.’
But it’s often impossible to figure out who owns the boats. The law requires boats to be registered, but the registration of many boats that show up in the river isn’t up to date.
Womack doesn’t know how long it will take Salmon’s to remove the boats. But the company will take them to land it owns on Shipyard Creek and dismantle them, he said. There’s nothing to salvage from old abandoned boats. `They’ll destroy them and take them to the landfill.’
Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or on Twitter at @dianeknich.
Click Here To View the South Carolina Cruisers’ Net Marina Directory Listing For Charleston City Marina
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Charleston City Marina
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To A “Navigation Alert” Position at the southern section of Jeremy Creek
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