Work is under way today to refloat the Walter J. McCarthy Jr. by pumping water out of the laker's ballast tanks.
The 1,000-foot-long laker's engine room flooded Monday after a submerged object punctured the McCarthy's hull as the ship was backing into a slip at Superior's Hallett No. 8 Dock about 11:30 a.m. The McCarthy's crew closed the engine room's watertight doors and evacuated the room as the ship's stern settled to the bottom in 20 feet of water.
"Calculations support that the vessel will float regardless of the flooded engine room if de-ballasting occurs," the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release. "To do so, the vessel will utilize shore power to operate internal and external pumps. Engineers involved in the salvage believe it will take two to three days to complete the de-ballasting."
Work to empty the ship's ballast tanks began Tuesday evening. The tanks hold lake water to help stabilize the ship when it is empty or lightly loaded.
Once the ship is refloated, divers will be able to determine the extent of the damage to the McCarthy's hall. After the ship's hull is patched, the water in the engine room will be pumped to trucks for proper treatment and disposal.
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The water fills the engine room to a depth of 20 feet, covering the ship's four 3,500-horsepower General Motors Electro Motive Division diesel engines. Response personnel estimate that approximately 450 gallons of miscellaneous oils have been removed from the flooded engine room, the Coast Guard said. There are an additional 2,500 to 3,000 gallons of oil and fuel in adjacent tanks, engines and generators, but there is no threat of those liquids escaping, the Coast Guard said.
Once the engine room is pumped dry, officials will be able to determine if the ship can be repaired where it is or whether it will have to enter dry dock.
Workers may rebuild the ship's engines where it sits now, said Rhonda S. Johnson, spokeswoman for GATX, the parent company of the McCarthy's owner, the American Steamship Co.
The McCarthy is 1,000 feet long, 105 feet wide and has a dead weight capacity of 62,100 gross tons at a draft of 27.5 feet. The ship transports western coal from Superior to Detroit Edison's St. Clair and Monroe, Mich., power plants. Built as the Belle River by the Bay Shipbuilding Corp. at Sturgeon Bay, Wis., the ship entered service in 1977. It was renamed the McCarthy in 1990 to honor the former chairman of the Detroit Edison Company.
