Oil spill response officials and Haines harbor staff stood by Monday morning after a wooden-hulled tender boat ran aground near the entrance to the small boat harbor.
“I was worried about it tipping over and leaking fuel into the harbor,” said harbormaster Phil Benner. “You could definitely tell it was aground. The back end was higher than the front end.”
The 84-foot Crane, home ported in Juneau, was backing out of the harbor when it became stuck on the western flank of the harbor entrance at 10 a.m., about 20 minutes before Monday morning’s low tide of .2 feet. The boat floated free about an hour later.
Fisherman Karl Johnson aboard the gillnet vessel Lookout tied off to the vessel and the rising tide lifted it.
The vessel built in 1931 buys fish for Alaska Glacier Seafoods. It has been in local waters for more than a month. The vessel did not respond to a U.S. Coast Guard radio call. The registered skipper of the vessel is Christopher Beaudin.
State troopers and members of the local oil spill response team arrived to assess the situation. A protective boom and other response equipment is stored on the harbor’s fuel float.
Benner said it was the first time he’s seen a vessel run aground there.