Excerpt from the Transport Safety Board of Canada report -
At 1700 EDT on 29 June 1994, the tugboat "J MANIC" with the barge "BASSE CÔTE" in tow departed Sept-Îles, Quebec, bound for Monger Lake on the Quebec Lower North Shore of the St. Lawrence River.
At 2235, the master noticed that the bow appeared abnormally high in the water. An inspection of the afterdeck revealed that the after end of the main deck in way of the steering gear compartment was submerged. The storeroom scuttle hatch was opened and the compartment was found flooded to the coaming. The pumping system could not cope with the ingress of water and, at 2257, an urgency message was dispatched on the radiotelephone. The crew was mustered on the boat deck and the entire crew boarded the lifeboat. The vessel was down to the boat deck when the crew of eight paddled away in light winds and one-metre seas. At approximately 2324, the tugboat sank in 200 metres of water, still moored to the undamaged "BASSE CÔTE".
At 0123 on 30 June, the "WESTERN BRIDGE" reported picking up the crew of the "J MANIC". At 0327, they were transferred onto the Department of Fisheries and Oceans vessel "LOUISBOURG" which arrived in Sept-Îles at 0700. There were no casualties as a result of this accident. At 0715, the tugboat "POINTE SEPT ÎLES" moored alongside the barge "BASSE CÔTE" in position 50°04.5'N, 065°32.8'W. The crew secured the emergency towline of the barge to the tugboat and, at 0940, the "POINTE SEPT ÎLES" proceeded toward Sept-Îles. At 1530, the "BASSE CÔTE" was moored to Section No. 1 of the Iron Ore Company berth in Sept-Îles. |