Day 9

Continued to move pieces. The crane/highline required work this morning and was not available until almost 10:00 a.m. The highline cannot get all the way to the boat while maintaining full functionality of the hook; however, this has not stopped the removal via highline. It took some maneuvering to get the large pieces near the boat, often requiring a second hookup to get it high enough off the ground.

All of the equipment in the engine room has been freed and most of it hauled out. Much of the stern and lazarrette has been removed however the keel is still frozen to the ground.

In the afternoon the SV Redeemer steamed to the area to determine how close it could position a barge. A location within 1,000’ was found. Dan Magone plans on diving on Monday to confirm that there are no obstacles between the Ocean Clipper site and the barge location that would prevent the removal offshore.


The operation of the highline continued all afternoon with the removal of most of the parts from the stern and engine compartments. It will take additional work with the highline and come alongs to position the bow pieces for removal.

Day 8

Spent the day using the highline. At first, large loads were tried. They were heavy and took a long time. Magones’s crew in now divided with four members required for running the highline at the staging area (one crane operator, one foreman, one loader operator and one truck driver). The remainder of the crew, three members continued to work on the stern and engine compartments. Towards the end of the day, lighter, but speedier loads were used. No animals were seen on the beach on either the morning or evening.

Day 7

The stern lazarrette and fuel tanks remain firmly frozen and full of ice. Two members of the Magone crew worked all day chipping ice and cutting to free the sternposts, rams and other steering gear. Two other of Magone’s crew worked to remove all equipment from the engine compartment. The engine compartment is a jumbled mess with engines (2), generator, compressor, and reduction gears (which had become separated) scattered.

The additional wire rope arrived and was added to the spool on the crane. With this wire, the highline can now be used. In addition, a new portable abrasive wheel cutter arrived. It is a welcome addition as the foam does not need to be removed when it cuts. However, it can only be used in a few locations.

Day 6

Continued to muck out areas and to pick up a lot of foam. The foam must be chipped away prior to using a cutting torch as it is very flammable. Picking the foam is a tedious, miserable chore.

Day 5

During the night the majority of the ice disappeared from the starboard side and within the fish hold. There is a long, wide gash in the fish hold. Water is surging in. It sucked one of the supersacks that was partially full through the gash. There are foam pieces just south of the boat on unstable shelf ice and in the water just below it. We will not be able to collect it until the shelf ice move further back.

A large portion of the ice also disappeared off of the stern of the vessel. Explosives may be used to move one large chunk of ice. Paul and I chopped ice off of the deck. The vessel is now largely ice free and now the water surges against it with a lot of spray.

The 1” cable planned for the highline was not large enough, so Dan has ordered a new cable shipped in. Do not know when it will show.

At 10:30 Dan was ready to set the explosives. By 11:30 just as Dan was preparing the holes in the ice and developing the shape charges. Mike and Juan came out and stationed themselves at appropriate distances from the vessel. Dan ran lines a ways from the vessel and the remainder of us went up the hill. When Dan was ready, he asked Mike and Juan for an all clear for sea mammals. None were in sight and Dan set off the charges. Very unspectacular, a flash and some smoke. We inspected the cuts and Dan was pleased.


Some of the ice at the stern broke and much of it was weakened. We expect to find a lot of the ice gone on Thursday. Magone’s crew continued cutting and chipping more foam. One crewmember began removing the numerous lines, wires and other attachments on the mast. We collected them as they came down.

We staged supersacks beneath the route of the highline and filled them with the garbage bags of items that we removed from the OC. This is a particularly good move as it appears the weather will become windier. We filled 11 sacks with the material. The sharp pieces of metal from the stove, frig etc will go up in cargo nets.

We finished most work by 5:00 p.m. and waited for Dan to return with more explosives. He returned after 7:00 p.m. and set a new charge below the one he had previously done on the port outer false hull.

When it was set, Juan and Mike went on lookout for marine mammals. Several seals had swum into the area and we waited for them to leave. The charge went off and accomplished the goal. Broke at 8:15 p.m. and headed for the vehicles.

Day 4

By 8:30am, approximately 2” of new snow had fallen. Magone’s crew was cutting the front ballast section off. Another part of the crew was still in the fish hold chipping off the foam. Dan used a torch to open a hatch just aft of the main cabin near the port railing. It was a storage section packed tightly with crab line, bait bags, bait containers, tarps, hoses, baskets, a countertop and junk. Peter the ECO crew and myself spent three hours hauling it out. We carried some supersacks from Magone to the site.

Around 11:30 a.m., the crane and loader showed up at the site.

Dan informed us that he would be doing some blasting on Wednesday.

We worked in the fish hold in the afternoon to remove the pieces of foam that were chipped. Just enough is chipped for a torch to cut through the metal without lighting the foam. A total of four supersacks were filled and hauled out of the hold. An additional full sack and a partial sack were left.

The highline was set up and partially tested but nothing was moved. Dan’s crew moved to the lazarette and began the same chipping process. One member continued to cut off the stern.

Day 3

At approximately 8:30 a.m. in the morning, the SV Redeemer and the Kashega barge arrived.The harbor is still full of ice, but with some maneuvering, they were able to clear a path.

At the Ocean Clipper, and Dustin and Paul from ECO were trying to clean out the main cabin but the cutters were cutting below them and the cabin was filled with sparks and smoke, so the ECO crew were removed from the vessel during cutting.

Instead, ECO crew and I moved the port wheelhouse section further from the boat. They undid the rigging and moved it to a new vantage point to move the section. There were pieces that were getting hung up and we had to rerig again to prevent that from occurring. We moved the piece successfully and then took the come along and repositioned it to pull the port forward compartment section off the vessel. Once it was ready, Paul did the honors of operating the come along.

Dan Magone and I talked about progress and he was going to talk with his cutters to make sure that we can get in to clean up so that debris does not scatter from the vessel when a piece is removed. He was pleased that we were helping him make progress. He informed us that it is likely that all pieces will be removed via the highline, but it’s not clear how that will work on the last piece. He also informed us that he will likely have to use explosives on the ice on the starboard stern quarter and in the engine compartment and fish holds.

The sea ice is melting off the starboard side and the water is lapping against the forward part of the hull. We mucked out the forward compartment. The area was full of debris. With the vessel listed such a large amount, the debris had formed a large mass in the deepest corner. We used shovels to muck out the mixture. We probably added another 15 bags of debris to the pile.

Once we finished mucking, the crew cut the starboard forward compartment side. Freeing the section caused a lot of problems.

The port stern fuel tank was cut free and was completely empty.

Dan Magone spent a lot of time devising a plan for the aft wheelhouse section. It is a double hull that he had not planned on. He sent several workers into the fish hold to chip the foam off of the steel. Extremely laborious.

Dan stopped by the bunkhouse in the evening for a few minutes. We talked about the large amount of debris coming off the vessel and he said that he would throw it on his barge. He is pleased with how things are going. He’s beginning to think that it will take two weeks to complete.

Day 2

Dan’s crew continued to remove all of the walls and woodwork in the house and some more of the false deck.The wood was again disposed of.

In mid morning, the ECO crew came to the site. Dustin Jones and Paul. We went into the house and began bagging insulation and other non-burnable debris and removing bags from the vessel. We also removed the smaller pieces of wood and disposed of them.

At some point, Dan had the cutter open access to the forward compartment just aft of the bow. It is a living/storage quarter of some type containing large amounts of all types of debris. The hull was lined apparently insulated with wood. There was again a large amount of wood that was disposed of. The ECO crew, Peter and myself began mucking out the quarter. We have found welding bottles in the area and will remove them the following day.

Dan’s lone cutter continued to work on the bow. The bow was eventually cut into two pieces and felled. The remainder of the port bulwark was removed. The cutter than began working on the port lazarette.

The fish hold and engine room are heavily iced. The vessel is frozen to the ground and there is a tremendously large amount of weight from the ice.

Dan began to string the cable for the overhead line. The crew carried a 1” cable from the staging to the vessel. Later, the four of us helped lay out a ¾” wire rope that went from the staging area to the vessel, through a large block high on the mast, and back to the staging site.

Dan’s crew went back to unload more equipment from the SV Western Viking.