John A. Downs

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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mitts

Diving gloves should be close-fitting, with long, gusseted, zippered, or Velcro gauntlets that overlap your suit sleeves. This is especially important with a drysuit, since the glove will protect the delicate wrist seal on the suit. Thin tropical gloves are of very limited use in the north - your gloves should be at least 5mm thick. Three-fingered mitts are much warmer than five-fingered gloves and are really not much clumsier. They are also much easier to get on and off, which makes me wonder why so few people use them. A little spray soap will make any glove easier to get on.

A hood is critical for maintaining warmth in the water. A good hood will be as close-fitting as possible, and have a generous collar for tucking into your wetsuit, thin skin-in seal around the face, and baffled vents in the top to release bubbles. A neck skirt is much less necessary with a drysuit, but it is a simple matter to cut one off if you don't like it. A neoprene cold-water hood should be at least 5-6mm thick.

The face-hole of a hood should be as small as possible - there is no reason to expose any skin here. The face seal of the hood should overlap your mask skirt, with just barely enough room below for your regulator. You can always trim out a too-small face-hole, but a too-big one pretty much negates any other good qualities a hood may have. Ideally, with mask and hood on, you should expose a small patch on each cheek, and no more.

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