F/V St. Patrick Spill Response

On August 6th, Alaska Chadux̂ Network (ACN) was activated to assist Global Diving & Salvage with what was initially reported as a sheen coming from the bottom of Woman’s Bay in Kodiak. It was later discovered that the sheen was coming from the F/V St. Patrick, a riveted steel hull vessel that sank in 1989.

The U.S. Coast Guard accessed the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and hired Global Diving & Salvage to assess the wreck and institute oil spill mitigation measures. After being activated by Global Diving & Salvage under our existing agreements, ACN deployed approximately 1,200 feet of boom and sorbent material to contain the spill. The OSRV Ocean Liberty, ACN’s dedicated response vessel under charter from Paradigm Marine, was activated and brought on-site to act as a forward command, dive platform, and berthing vessel for the Global Diving & Salvage team.

Every day of the operation, ACN crews monitored the containment boom and sorbent materials while the divers removed fuel and oils from the sunken vessel. ACN, Global Diving & Salvage, and Paradigm Marine partnered on this response for over 6 weeks, removing over 20,000 gallons of oil and water from the vessel and disposing of over 660 bags of oily solid waste. The new Pacific Rim Response Center (PRRC) in Kodiak hosted the response team providing small vessel, logistical, and berthing support for shoreside personnel assigned to the incident.