About 2 p.m. Wednesday, the towboat James Garrett moved the second barge away from the John C. Stennis Lock & Dam, pushing it against the west bank of the Tombigbee River approximately 19 days after the barge and another became lodged against the dam, creating a brief tourist attraction.
The salvage operation, conducted by River Salvage Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, lasted two days. Salvage crews removed the first of the two barges Tuesday morning, but the second barge, which was half-submerged during the accident, required extensive work.
Crews began work on raising the barge Tuesday afternoon and by early Wednesday, a crane mounted on a deck barge had lifted the submerged end from the water. After six hours of pumping water out of the hold and welding to seal leaks, the barge was turned and moved away from the dam.
“What we are being told is that two empty barges will be brought in and secure the barge, then it will be towed up the river,” said Rick Saucer, operations project manager for the U.S. Corps of Engineers. “Now that the barges are removed, we’ll be able to do a survey of the dam within a couple of weeks to assess what damage there is, if any. As for the gate, we’ll wait until low flow, probably around May, to go in an do any repairs there.”
As was the case with the barge removed Tuesday, the second barge will be towed to the port at Tom Soya Grain in West Point, about four miles up the river.
The barges broke loose from the Raymond D. Lucas Memorial Port in Clay County on Dec. 26 following heavy rains.
Jimmy Bryan, owner of Tom Soya Grain, said he had limited knowledge of the details of the accident or the salvage operations.
“It’s been pretty much in the hands of the insurance companies since it happened,” he said.
Bryan said the barges were leased from SCF Marine of St. Louis. The first barge, he said, held a small amount of salt.
“The other barge, the one that sank, we had loaded with soybeans,” Bryan told The Dispatch on Wednesday. “It was a full load, 1,500 tons.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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