PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — After days of resting on the bottom of the Piscataqua River between Maine and New Hampshire, the tugboat Benjamin Bailey has resurfaced.
The Portsmouth Herald says the tugboat, which sank Wednesday, was brought to the surface Saturday with airbags.
The boat was being used in the Memorial Bridge replacement project and sank Wednesday. Two crewmen aboard swam to safety.
The tugboat is owned by Ken Anderson of Riverside & Pickering Marine Contractors, based in Eliot, Maine.
I wonder how much the recovery of this sunken tug cost! Still no answers to why it sunk? I’m guessing someone didn’t know how to read the Piscataqua’s strong currents.
The tug was sideways to the current and pinned up against a barge. Bad position. I grew up on this river and lobstered there for 30 years. It’s not real forgiving. Here’s a link to the Portsmouth Herald with a video of the tug actually sinking: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20121025-NEWS-210250432
Thanks, those currents are strong. Looking at the video the old pilings look like what they are using for the new bridge. How wide is that new bridge supposed to be after all of this?
I know that they are reusing the two main abutments that define the width of the draw. It’s my understanding that the existing abutments are setting on, but not anchored to bedrock, and that to remedy that, they are drilling right down through them into the bedrock and will anchor them that way. I believe that’s a requirement now due to earthquakes. So, the draw bridge span will be the same as before.
My grandmother actually pushed my father across the old Memorial Bridge in a baby carriage the day it opened in 1923. He’s still alive and lives with my wife and I. Hoping to push him across it in his wheelchair the day the new Memorial Bridge opens.