A 50-foot pleasure boat remained grounded in the mouth of Campbell River this week, days after running aground in the middle of the channel.
The Pursepa, a wooden-hulled, live-aboard vessel, grounded between 2 and 3 p.m. Monday, resulting in a response from a Campbell River Coast Guard crew and Marine Assist International, as well as a regional dive and tow business.
“It’s been kind of an on-and-off case,” Coast Guard spokesperson Dan Bate said early Tuesday.
No injuries were reported in the incident. The boat was listing hard to starboard Tuesday afternoon, with water over the starboard deck, as spectators looked on and shot photos from the end of the spit.
One person was reportedly aboard the boat when it grounded. The owner contacted Marine Assist International, which located a DCD Piledriving tug that responded to help secure or extract the vessel.
When those responders experienced “some difficulties,” according to Bate, the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria was called and dispatched a lifeboat crew from Campbell River’s Coast Guard station to support the effort.
Wooden bracing was secured to the starboard side of the Pursepa Monday to prevent it from tipping until it could be floated or towed on the tide. When that proved impossible on Tuesday’s high tide, float bags were attached to the starboard rail to limit further tipping, and a crew from Pacific Pro Dive & Marine Adventures was called to inspect the grounding Tuesday.
“We’re just having a look to see if it will need a tug and crane (extraction) or what the best course will be,” said a member of the crew, who declined to give his name. “We’re going to sound some depths at high tide,” about 4 p.m. Wednesday.
The Pursepa was built in 1928 for the Department of Fisheries, which used it to patrol the coast. According to a 2011 profile in The Shipping News, it was purchased in 1998 by Ian Henry and retrofitted into a live-aboard pleasure craft that has continued to ply the B.C. coast.
An ad posted on the internet classified ad site Kijiji Feb. 2 listed the Pursepa for sale for $29,000, and a For Sale sign could be seen in a cabin window.
Bate said there was no report of pollution submitted to DFO as a result of the grounding.
