Nearly a week after a fishing trawler ran aground during a historic storm, crews on Friday began the challenging work of dismantling and removing it from its perch on a rocky point along the shore in Cape Elizabeth.
As workers in bright safety vests moved carefully along the rocks on Trundy Point, the Tara Lynn II sat at a 45-degree angle, rocking slightly as an excavator tapped against its side. Work on Friday focused on removing rigging and equipment before starting to dismantle the wreckage.
The temperature hovered near 20 degrees as workers stepped carefully over the snow-covered shore and loaded pieces of debris into waiting trucks. The neighborhood was quiet except for the beeps and thumps of construction equipment and the occasional call of gulls.
The whole process could take until Wednesday to complete, said Parker Poole, owner of Determination Marine, the company hired to dismantle and remove the wreckage.
“It’s a pretty precarious spot,” he said.
Crews dismantle the Tara Lynn II on the shore of Cape Elizabeth on Friday at low tide. The Tara Lynn II ran aground on Saturday and four crew members were rescued. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
The wreckage is on private property and Poole had to work with the landowners, Coast Guard, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and an insurance company on a salvage plan to safely remove it. The plan was approved Thursday.
The 49-foot fishing vessel was headed to Portland Harbor last Saturday after two days of trawling for groundfish when it ran into trouble about 300 feet offshore. Winds were gusting to 50 mph and waves topped 6 feet.
David Osier, owner of the Tara Lynn II and Osier’s Seafood in South Bristol, told Maine Public that a crew member fell asleep after turning on the ship’s autopilot and the boat “went straight into the beach.” He said a bridge alarm – installed onboard to wake crew members up at certain time intervals – was not turned on.
Osier was helping dismantle the boat Friday and was not available for an interview, according to a person who answered the phone at his office.
The Coast Guard is investigating the wreck. Ryan Koroknay, the Coast Guard’s Incident Management Division chief, refused to discuss the cause of the wreck, provide the names of crew members or reveal whether the Coast Guard is considering charges or fines because the case is under investigation.
The four crew members trapped onboard last weekend sent a distress call around 1:20 a.m., but nearby vessels that responded to their mayday call couldn’t get close enough to help. A Coast Guard helicopter was more than an hour away and it would have been too dangerous for a Coast Guard vessel to approach from the ocean, Cape Elizabeth fire Chief Steve Young said this week.
Crews dismantle the Tara Lynn II on the rocks of Trundy Point in Cape Elizabeth on Friday. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
The crew was rescued by Cape Elizabeth’s Water Extrication Team in a harrowing mission using an inflatable boat that was taking on water.
Osier told Maine Public that there was initially only minor damage to the vessel when it ran aground on the beach and he had hoped to tow it to deeper water during high tide, but the storm prevented that. Instead, the boat took a beating as the storm battered the coast and it ultimately ended up on the rocks. Debris and cargo were scattered across Trundy Point, a picturesque spot in a quiet neighborhood of homes with sweeping water views.
The Tara Lynn II discharged 500 gallons of fuel, Poole said. That spill was monitored by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, he said.
A spokesperson for the department did not respond Friday to a request for more information about the fuel spill.
Poole said it took a lot of coordination to develop the salvage plan because of multiple challenges. The boat is half-submerged at high tide, so crews can only work during the day and when the tide is low. Surrounding landowners agreed to allow Poole’s crew and workers from Material Handling Services and Scott Dugas Trucking and Excavating, both of Yarmouth, to use their private property to get to the vessel.
Crews dismantle the Tara Lynn II on the shore of Cape Elizabeth on Friday during low tide. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
The Cape Elizabeth Land Trust, which oversees conserved land in the neighborhood, is allowing the companies to use a field to dismantle and dispose of the wreckage, Poole said.
“We’re doing the best we can to get this cleaned up and have it done by the middle of next week,” Poole said. “If not, we will run into issues with tides forcing us out of the wreck site during the day.”
Staff Writer Kay Neufeld contributed to this report.
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