Capsule News Summary For May 16–22, 2005:
It was all about a gracious lady named Jill P. Harvey, the namesake of a towboat that was christened in Greenville, Miss., May 3. Known affectionately as Miss Jill, Miss Harvey or Mrs. Harvey at times, she is the longtime secretary and treasurer of J. Russell Flowers Inc. of Greenville and a well-known figure in the river industry.
At the early arrivals luncheon at Sherman’s, the gathering at the company’s office, the pre-christening dinner at Doe’s Eats Place, the vessel christening at the Greenville Yacht Club, the dinner dance at the Greenville Country Club and the post-christening lunch the next day back at Sherman’s, Jill Harvey was honored.
It was not only a testament to her dedication and loyalty over the years, but naming the vessel for her was indicative of a characteristic shared by two highly successful business owners who prefer to divert attention from themselves in favor of giving credit to their employees. The men are Russell Flowers, owner of J. Russell Flowers, and Dennis Pasentine, owner of Florida Marine Transporters Inc. (FMT).
Based in Mandeville, La., Florida Marine transports clean products on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and Mississippi River system. The firm owns the mv. Jill P. Harvey and charters a portion of its tank barges from J. Russell Flowers.
Kody Marine Inc. built the towboat….
The new year brought a new marine service operation to Paducah when National Maintenance & Repair of Kentucky established its second lower Ohio River-area repair facility at Tennessee River Mile 4.5.
National Maintenance already operates a barge fleeting, repair, gas freeing and fueling facility at Ohio River Mile 929.9 near Ledbetter, Ky. Both operations are under the umbrella of McGinnis Inc., which also operates similar facilities at Cincinnati, South Point and Wheelersburg, Ohio; Hebron and Ludlow, Ky.; Hartford, Ill., and Harahan, La.
The general manager is Sandy D. McDaniel, who was previously manager of barge maintenance at Ingram Barge Company, Paducah, following a 17-year association with Midland Enterprises.
McDaniel said the new Paducah operation went to work immediately after securing its floating equipment in place on January 14, making bottom repairs to a towboat lifted on one of its two 3,500-ton drydocks. He said they have already handled vessels ranging from 600 hp. to the 10,500 hp. Miss Kae D.
Also included among the floating equipment at the new Tennessee River facility are two 100-ton floating cranes….
John Bludworth Shipyard in Corpus Christi is awaiting steel shipments to begin construction of a new 3,200 hp. towboat for Blessey Marine Services. It will be the fourth boat that John Bludworth Shipyard has built for Blessey in almost as many years.
Gasper D’Anna, vice president for John Bludworth Shipyard, said the relationship with Blessey Marine has been a strong one, which he believes drew Blessey to contract in mid-April with John Bludworth Shipyard for the new vessel, scheduled to be delivered in April 2006.
The vessel will be similar to the mv. Walter E. Blessey Jr., which was delivered to Blessey in August 2002.
“They really like our design for this size hull,” he said. “From my understanding, this is one of their faster boat designs in their fleet.”
The vessel, designed by John L. Bludworth III, will be a 110- by 32-foot, 3,200 hp. towboat. It will have a hull depth of 11 feet and a pilothouse eyelevel of 36 feet, three inches. It is designed to operate in an eight foot, six-inch draft, and is made of 3/8-inch steel sides and deck….
The tug Matthew B sank in the Bolivar Roads anchorage of the Houston Ship Channel on the evening of May 8 during a fierce storm that swept across Galveston Island. All four crew members escaped without injury.
Winds were clocked at 80 to 100 mph. and seas in the anchorage went six to eight feet in a matter of minutes. The 800 hp. tug was tending a bunker barge next to a ship when the storm hit. Several ships dragged their anchors during the storm.
According to the Coast Guard, the Matthew B was pushing a barge with 58,800 gallons of diesel fuel when the tug began taking on water and sank. The crew of an anchored ship nearby let down a ladder and rescued three of the men, and the fourth was rescued by a Coast Guard 47-foot rescue boat from Station Galveston. The barge broke free from the tug and was recovered by the tugs San Thomas and Atlas, which took it to be moored at pier 10 in Galveston.
None of the men aboard the Matthew B were injured.
The tug itself, however, wasn't so lucky.
When divers located the Matthew B in 39 feet of water, they found extensive damage to the three-deck boat, as can be seen in the accompanying photos. The house of the tug appears to be completely shredded….
Despite some much-needed rain and snow, drought refuses to loosen its grip on the upper Missouri River Basin, the Corps of Engineers' Northwester Division reports.
"Normally the mountain snowpack peaks around mid-April," said Larry Cieslik, chief of the Corps' Water Management Office in Omaha, Neb. The snowpack topped out in the reach above Fort Peck at 76 percent of the normal peak accumulation and 72 percent of normal in the reach from Fort Peck to Garrison.
With below-normal mountain snow and normal rainfall the rest of the year, the forecasted annual runoff is 16.5 million acre feet (maf.) Normal runoff is 25.2 maf.
"Under the basic computer simulation, the navigation season will be shortened 61 days, the greatest shortening since the dams were built," Cieslik said.
A final determination of the navigation season length will be made after the water-in-storage check on July 1….
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