By Daniel Katzive
The yacht that caught fire and sank in the Hudson River off 110th Street on Saturday remains on the bottom for now, but the plan is to raise it soon. West Side Rag spoke to Petty Officer Ryan Schultz of Coast Guard – Sector New York, who explained that the vessel operator’s insurance company has contracted with a private company, Ken’s Marine, to do the salvage work.
According to the Coast Guard, the plan today is to perform sonar scans and have divers inspect the wreck before it is eventually raised. The Coast Guard will be monitoring the work and enforcing an exclusion zone for marine traffic in the area while work is underway. A deck barge with a crane and accompanying tugboats are currently visible at the site, and a Coast Guard 45’ response boat is also in the area. NOAA marine charts show depths in the range of 30 to 45′ in the area where the barge is currently operating.
Petty Officer Schultz indicated the 48’ yacht is believed to have about 400 gallons of diesel on board, and the Coast Guard will also be monitoring for pollution.
The Coast Guard was involved in the initial response to the incident, along with the FDNY and marine units from fire departments on the New Jersey side of the river. NYPD and New Jersey State Police boats were also visible from the shore.
Petty Officer Schultz confirmed that all seven passengers on the boat had evacuated the vessel before first responders arrived. He indicated that they did not enter the water but rather moved directly to another civilian motor boat and then were transferred to an NYPD launch. This was observed by a WSR reader who commented on our initial story.
The NYPD launch brought them to Chelsea Piers. The FDNY has indicated there were no injuries.
It’s good that nobody got hurt except the insurance company. A lot of boat owners I know wouldn’t mind losing their boat that way if nobody got hurt.
The two best days of a boat owner are the day he buys it and the day he gets rid of it.
its the day he/she sells it – not the day it burns and sinks
wrong.
The insurance company is not hurt, it is their business.
Good no one was hurt but my boat is like a family member.
I want to know the name of the boat and who the captain was. I also find it very difficult to follow up months later to find the coast guard report. Any hints?
I photographer the raising from the moment the barge appeared. So many government boats came by to monitor the raising, about 5 or 6. I shot from a 10th fl apartment on RSD. Been doing so for 6 years, photos of “Action Along the Hudson River”.