John A. Downs

Well, it's that time of year again, time to renew the web hosting. And for those of you that don't know, that has become a lot more expensive than it used to be. Fifty dollars a year is now several hundred. Not to mention the price of domain names has gone up ten-fold.

And I just found out that the nice folks at PayPal disabled all my Support buttons, and I never got a notice (although that may be my fault.) In any case, it is all working again now, so if you would like to make a small donation to help defray these costs, it would be greatly appreciated.

Type:
shipwreck, tugboat, USA
Specs:
( 113 ft ) 8 crew
Sunk:
Sunday March 3, 1985
collision with one of its own barges - no casualties
Depth:
230 ft

INCIDENT SUMMARY

ON THE NIGHT OF MARCH 4, 1985 THE 113 FOOT TUG, JOHN A DOWNS, WITH 3 BARGES IN TOW BEGAN TO TAKE ON WATER. THE EMPTY BARGES WERE CUT LOOSE BUT THE VESSEL CONTINUED TO FLOUNDER. THE CREW OF 13 ABANDONED SHIP AND WERE RESCUED BY THE U.S. COAST GUARD. ALL THREE BARGES WERE TAKEN IN TOW BY OTHER VESSELS. ON THE MORNING OF MARCH 5 AN OIL SLICK WAS SIGHTED DURING LOW VISIBILITY CONDITIONS FROM A BUOY MARKED "2A" ON NOAA CHART 13211. THE MOST RECENT NUMBER FOR THIS BUOY IS "4" LOCATED AT 41 DEGREES 15.5 MIN NORTH LAT. AND 72 DEGREES 08.5 MIN WEST LONG. THE SLICK IS REPORTED TO EXTEND TO THE SOUTHWEST FOR 3/4 OF A MILE. NO WIDTH CAN BE OBSERVED. THE JOHN A DOWNS IS REPORTED TO HAVE 50,000 GALLONS OF #2 FUEL OIL AND 1,000 GALLONS OF LUBE OIL ON BOARD. USCG district 1.

-- UCCG

Owned by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. of Staten Island, N.Y.


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Steamer is an early term for any vessel power by a steam engine rather than sails.

Shipwreck Delaware
The Delaware, an 1880s screw steamer

Early steamers were propelled by large paddlewheels. "Side-wheelers", with the paddlewheels on each side, were more seaworthy, and therefore more common in ocean waters, while "stern-wheelers", with a single large paddlewheel at the back, were more common as riverboats. Later, these were replaced by more efficient screw (or propeller) vessels.

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