Tugboat Nearly Capsizes by Memorial Bridge

UPDATE, 4:00 p.m. Portsmouth Assistant Fire Chief Steve Achilles said city firefighters, the U.S. Coast Guard, New Hampshire Marine Patrol and the Kittery, Maine, Fire Department coordinated resources perfectly to help the Miss Stacy tugboat after it put out a distress call at 1:57 p.m.

The Eugenia Moran tugboat, which is part of Moran Towing of Portsmouth, may have played the biggest role in preventing the Miss Stacy was going under by arriving on the scene in less than 10 minutes after the call came in, Achilles said.

“Moran Towing played a huge role," Achilles said. “This could have worked out terribly if some of the pieces didn’t work and the Eugenia Moran wasn’t around.”

Fortunately, none of the Miss Stacy crew members were injured and the tugboat was successfully towed to the New Hampshire State Pier, where efforts were underway to pump it out so it could return to service.

“The U.S. Coast Guard will work with the contractor to investigate the cause,” Achilles said. But the Piscataqua River's strong currents definitely contributed to the incident, he said.

Based on what information the fire department received, Achilles says it appears "the tugboat got caught when the stern started getting sucked under the bridge and it got stuck on the one of the concrete piers and it started taking on water."

In an e-mail, Bill Boynton, the public information officer for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, said that is the information that he received from the scene. "According to Nickie Hunter, NHDOT District Construction Engineer, one of the tugs working with one of the barges at the Memorial Bridge project somehow got pinned against the barge and took on water," he wrote.

Attempts to get comment from officials with Archer Western Contractors on Tuesday afternoon were not successful.

Achilles said a Portsmouth Fire ambulance crew was in the Portsmouth Fire Rescue boat and they were wearing cold water rescue suits in case they needed to go into the water to rescue anyone. Another ambulance crew and Tower 5 were waiting on shore in case anyone needed to be transported to the hospital, he said.

If anyone ended up in the water, they would definitely have suffered hypothermia and that is why there were firefighters in cold water rescue suits in case they had to go into the water.

Ultimately, Achilles said all of the training that the Portsmouth Fire Department does with the Coast Guard, New Hampshire Marine Patrol and other agencies enabled them to respond quickly to the distress call. Fortunately, he said no one was injured.

Achilles said Archer Western Contractors and the tugboat operators also deserve some credit for the successful outcome.

“It demonstrates the contractors and the tugboat operators know what they are doing.”

Earlier story: Portsmouth Fire and the U.S. Coast Guard responded to reports of a capsizing tugboat near the Memorial Bridge this afternoon, according to emergency radio broadcasts.

The vessel in distress, the Miss Stacy, was first reported around 2 p.m., and multiple agencies responded. While the tugboat did not fully capsize, it did strike a structural support for the Memorial Bridge. The two people aboard were safely evacuated.

As of 2:20 p.m., the Coast Guard and Portsmouth Fire were on scene. The Eugenia Moran tugboat responded to pull the Miss Stacy away from the bridge, and a second tugboat was later called to the scene to assist.

No word yet on whether the tugboat was part of the ongoing Memorial Bridge replacement project.

Portsmouth Patch will have more on this story – including a video – shortly.