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The Wreck of the Barge SMT–5000

by John MacFarlane 2022

SMT-5000

The Barge SMT–5000 Hard Aground (Photo from the Simon Hill collection.)

Simon Hill, Editor of Western Mariner magazine sent me an interesting picture taken from seaward of the barge SMT–5000 hard aground on Sunset Beach in Vancouver Harbour. Not all wrecks happen out of public view so I reckon it deserved to be added to the west coast shipwreck stories.

The SMT–5000 was built in 1968 at Portland Oregon by Zidell Explorations Inc. She is 84.12m x 18.29m x 5.18m steel–hulled 4307gt 1806nt. In 1968 she was owned by USA interests. In 2021–2022 she was owned by Sentry Marine Towing Ltd., Nanaimo BC.

This barge was driven ashore in a fierce gale on November 15, 2021. Subsequent repeated efforts to tow the barge off the beach were unsuccessful.

Vancouver Pile Driving Ltd (VanPile) reports on their company website (2022) that They have been contracted "to complete the removal of the SMT–5000 barge from English Bay beach. The barge is structurally unsound, cannot be re–floated and will be deconstructed on site. Preparation for the deconstruction is complex and involves consultation with multiple stakeholders and subject matter experts. Planning is underway in 2022 and includes safety, security, habitat and environmental protections and assessments."


To quote from this article please cite:

MacFarlane, John (2022) The Wreck of the Barge SMT–5000. Nauticapedia.ca 2021. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/SMT-5000_Wreck.php

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Site News: December 21, 2024

The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,824 vessel histories (with 16,274 images and 13,929 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).

Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 45,000 processed so far this year (2024).

The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).

Thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of vessel histories in the database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.

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