| On June 13, 2000 this vessel sank in the Fraser River off Delta BC after her propellers were jammed by debris and this vessel was run down by a barge this vessel was towing. This vessel sank on November 06, 2004 in 270m of water just south of Texada Island. Her skipper Dusty Davidson and crew member Brian Cusson were killed. This vessel had been towing two barges. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada reports that "On the morning of 06 November 2004, the tug Manson, with a crew of two, was on passage between New Westminster, British Columbia, on the Fraser River and Beale Cove, Texada Island, British Columbia. The Manson had two barges in tow: the crane barge McKenzie and the deck barge M.B.D. 32. During the transit through the Strait of Georgia, the couplers connecting the M.B.D. 32 to the stern of the McKenzie parted. The Manson, with the McKenzie in tow, attempted to recover the M.B.D. 32 but experienced steering difficulties during this process. The Manson capsized and sank with the loss of both crew members - a deckhand and the master. Both barges were subsequently recovered; the Manson has not been located." "The Manson was a small twin-screw tug of conventional design. A single deckhouse enclosed the wheelhouse forward with a galley/mess area at its after end. Aft of the deckhouse were the twin engine exhaust uptakes. Aft of the uptakes, on the centreline, was the towing winch containing 594 m of 28.6 mm-diameter tow wire, connected via a fish plate to a 75 m wire pendant. Two 12 m-long, 25.4 mm-diameter wire bridles were shackled through a thimble at the end of the pendant. The winch brake was fitted with a manually operated hydraulic brake. Straddling the winch on either side were steel "goal posts" installed to protect the tug when backing against the raked bow of light displacement barges. Below decks, the tug was divided into three watertight compartments: a forecastle forward containing crew berths, the engine space amidships, and the lazarette aft. Access to the engine space and lazarette was through watertight deck hatches outside the wheelhouse. The Manson's main control station, located inside the forward end of the deckhouse, was equipped with steering and engine controls, and navigation equipment, which included two radars, very high frequency (VHF) radios, and an echo sounder. Secondary steering and engine control stations were located by the winch on the main deck, and on the deck above the wheelhouse, at both the forward and after ends. Each control station was fitted with the means to release the tow wire by releasing hydraulic pressure on the winch brake." |
