Update, Oct. 2
The owners of the boat, Bill Soderberg and Julie Tallino, are trying to save their tugboat, which is also their home, according to a fundraiser website created to gather support.
Yesterday, the Foss 300, a giant crane, came to attempt to lift the boat off the bottom, but as soon as the boat was lifted, she started sinking again. After hours of troubleshooting, they got the boat out of the water and onto a drydock at the Fisherman's Terminal. There were no obvious clues as to why it sank in the first place, but the owners believe it was due to the storm overnight. There was a plank that popped out, likely due to pressure of the water inside the hull.
A message on the website gives a call for help: "This was their home, and they have lost everything they own, along with countless hours of hard work. The bills are stacking up as fast as the Iver went down. Just today, they estimate it will cost around $50,000 to have the fuel cleaned up, divers working all day, and contracting to get her hauled out of the water. This is just for day one, and doesn't include any of the personal belongings they lost."
For more info, visit https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/h063/save-tug-iver
Original, Sept. 30
A 72-foot tug sank by the Ballard Bridge this morning and is spilling oil, according to The Seattle Times.
The 1925-vintage vessel boat was undergoing work to be transformed from a tugboat to a floating residence. While there is a sheen on the water, the Coast Guard said they didn't know how many gallons have spilled, but said that the fuel tanks hold 1,700 gallons when full.
A blog by owner Bill Soderberg details the now ruined project to transform the tugboat at ourtugboat.blogspot.com. In the blog, Soderberg writes about the boat's history:
"Iver was designed by L.H. Coolidge of Seattle built in 1925 by the Port Angeles Sand and Gravel CO. in Port Angeles, WA. She was called the Angeles and was used to tow gravel scows. She was completed in July of 1925 and for the next 10 months worked towing sand and gravel scows. In May of 1926 the Foss Tug and Barge Co. bought the assets of the Port Angeles Sand and Gravel Co. and with them acquired the Angeles. The tug was renamed Iver Foss, in honor of Foss Co. founder Andrew Foss' younger brother. For the next 47 yrs the Iver Foss worked the Puget Sound area towing gravel scows, log booms and chip/pulpwood barges. The Iver even towed barges to the Port Townsend paper mill."
Soderberg continues, "But it's most famous tow had to have been as part of the Namu Navy in 1965, towing the enclosure containing Namu the Killer Whale from British Columbia to Seattle. Namu was the one of the first Killer Whales in captivity and was on display on the Seattle waterfront."
After its tenure at Foss, and gaining a little age, the tug was used for various other jobs until Jason Belsche found here in the late 1990s. Jason renamed the boat back to Angeles and spent the next 10 years living aboard and restoring the boat, until he sold it to Soderberg and Juli Tallino.
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