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Jon Jordan
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Ship Down....
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Anyone who has boated the lower Croix or upper pool 3 the past few years has seen this boat. It was up on pool 2 for a hell of a long time before they moved it down there. Kinda feel bad for the two, but ya know...... that's what is bound to happen when you can't afford a dock. I too would not be surprised to find out the boat was sabotaged. Many, including me felt it was an eyesore!
From today's Pioneer Press:
Ship Down
Down - like the ship
Two men are sad and homeless after the sub chaser they lived on sank in the Mississippi
BY JOHN BREWER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 12/18/2007 12:16:45 AM CST
Richard Lindsey's, left, 110-foot World War II- era submarine chaser lay tipped over and frozen in the ice of the Mississippi River just upstream from Prescott, Wis., on Monday, December 17, 2007. (Scott Takushi, Pioneer Press)
The boat was his dream.
Then the dream took on water.
Richard Lindsey bought and restored a World War II-era sub chaser more than 30 years ago and has lived on it since 1979. Now, the historic-boat-turned-bachelor-pad is mostly submerged in the Mississippi River near Prescott, Wis., and likely is unsalvageable.
"I tried to save a piece of United States history, and it looks like I lost the battle," the 59-year-old said. "Or maybe the war."
It's still unclear what caused the boat, a participant in the Battle of Normandy in 1944, to spring a leak and slip from its mooring off Dakota County's Point Douglas and into about 8 feet of dark, icy river water.
Was it a catastrophic hull failure or sabotage? Lindsey said he might never know.
According to Lindsey, he and his boat mate, Douglas Lentz, 20, moored the vessel up the Mississippi River from its confluence with the St. Croix River a few weeks ago - the same place they wintered last year and lived all this year. They took a trip to Tennessee by car, certain that the boat, which has no name, would be fine. Its generator was solar-powered, which meant the pumps would always run. A heater also cranked out warmth in the engine room.
But Friday, Lindsey said he got a call from the Coast Guard. His ship was sinking.
By the time he got back to Prescott on Saturday, ice gripped the boat in a sad list.
The duo salvaged the pricey solar panels from the roof and pulled out any loose canisters of propane and fuel.
"It could be a big problem if it leaks," Lindsey said. "But it hasn't yet."
Authorities are keeping an eye on things, too. So far, they said, it appears it hasn't spilled much fuel - it carries at least 400 gallons of biodiesel - or any of its 40 gallons of engine oil into the river.
"Right now, the boat's stable in its current condition," said Chief Warrant Officer David Swisher of the Coast Guard.
The Environmental Protection Agency is acting as federal on-scene coordinator of the cleanup, Swisher said, but an EPA contact was unavailable for comment.
On Monday, Lindsey and Lentz were left to hack out any valuable hardware from the deck of the iced-in vessel.
They had to smash windows above water level to reach inside the cabin, where books, a television and plastic aspirin bottles floated in a reeking, oil-laced stew.
"Everything that I owned went down with the thing," Lindsey said.
That the 110-foot craft went down still baffles him. The wood-and-steel hull was lined with inches of concrete, too, making an accidental rupture seem unlikely.
"It had to be something odd," he reasoned.
Without a home, the two men are couch-surfing with friends and family.
Lindsey supposes he'll rent an apartment and continue working as a handyman in Prescott.
"It's a nice town," he said.
Lentz doesn't have plans.
"All my stuff was in there, too," he said.
The guys suppose they'll be done recovering what they can from the boat by the end of the week.
Then it's either a matter of having the government pull the boat from the ice or waiting to see if it can be pumped dry and moved this spring.
Either way, Lindsey's resigned to giving up the boating life.
"It's gone as far as I'm concerned," he said.
John Brewer can be reached at 651-228-2093 or at jbrewer@pioneerpress.com.
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Jami Ritter
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Re: Ship Down....
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Saw that on the news.... I'm glad to see its leaving, but wishing it wouldn't have had to happen this way. I do feel bad for those two, to lose everything like that.
Jami
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B Curtis
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Re: Ship Down....
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Is that the big ole white piece of junk that was around Prescott? I always wondered what the story was on that. I think I saw that it had a for sale sign on it this summer?
That is sad to lose your ‘home’ that way as I am sure there isn’t an insurance policy available for that thing.
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Jon Jordan
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Re: Ship Down....
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I’m with you guys. Don’t want to see anyone lose everything like that. Especially around the holidays and in the middle of winter.
But, if you plan to own and refurbish a 110 foot ship on the Croix/Sippy and live on it year round you must have a better plan then tying off to a tree all winter. Not to mention just anchoring up just off the main channel at Prescott all summer.
As far as any refurnishing going on, lets get real. I have watched that boat for years and it has always appeared to be on its last leg. Looks just as bad today as it did 10 years ago! There were reports for years about that boat and a few others up here on pool 2 that basically got ticket after ticket for dumping sewage. Let’s all face it, that boat rarely or never made a visit to the marina for a simple pump out.
There are 2 other boats sunk up on P2. Have been there for at least 4 years. I wish the state would make the owners clean up the mess. Hope this wreck is gone by spring!
-J.
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B Curtis
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Re: Ship Down....
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Good points. So who gets to pay for the removal? The Feds, State of WI, or the State of MN?
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Suzuki
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Re: Ship Down....
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--------------------
Mike
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SteveW
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Re: Ship Down....
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Feds/State = you and me so I guess the real question is, do the owners of the poor judgment pay or do we pay?
Where the heck is my checkbook????
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mplspug
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Re: Ship Down....
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Quote:
Then it's either a matter of having the government pull the boat from the ice or waiting to see if it can be pumped dry and moved this spring.
I was hoping there was going to be a new spot to fish flatheads. 
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"A fairytale starts out ‘Once upon a time.’ A fisherman’s story starts out, ‘This ain’t no bulls—.’"
Captain Phil Harris
MNCSA #7
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barebackjack
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Re: Ship Coming back up?????
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New owner: Historical boat will float again
Shipmate bought World War II-era sub chaser, now twice sunk, and hopes to resurrect it
BY JOHN BREWER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 12/24/2007 10:58:25 PM CST
Richard Lindsey, left, and shipmate Doug Lentz plan to salvage the 100-foot boat they lived on at the confluence of the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers. The boat sank last week. (Scott Takushi, Pioneer Press) Call it the boat that won't stay sunk.
After Richard Lindsey's submarine chaser went down in the icy Mississippi River near Prescott, Wis., last week, it looked like the end for the storied ship.
Lindsey, 59, had resurrected the 110-foot World War II-era vessel 30 years before and said he didn't have the heart to do it again.
But Doug Lentz does.
The 20-year-old man has lived on the boat with Lindsey for the past year and a half and bought the title to the craft "for a nominal fee," he said, and plans to rebuild - and then live on -the cruiser, a submarine chaser used on D-Day.
"It's from World War II," Lentz said. "You can't just let something like that slide through your fingers."
First, he's going to have to figure out if the thing will float again.
The boat is mostly submerged in about 8 feet of water near the confluence of the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers.
Nobody knows exactly how it sank. Lindsey and Lentz were in Tennessee when the Coast Guard called about the mishap last week.
But both men think they can right the ship, pump out the water and patch any leaks.
They've already spent days making sure none of the fuel on board seeped into the river, they said, and raising the ship couldn't be any harder.
Lindsey and Lentz collected floating barrels of heating oil and propane tanks from the boat, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had to come in for the fuel below decks.
Craig Thomas, the on-scene coordinator
with the EPA, said about 600 gallons of diesel, vegetable oil and heating oil were pulled out of the submerged engine room Thursday and Friday. Divers also were able to recover the boat's logbook, which includes an entry for the Normandy invasion.
The cleanup could cost up to $100,000, Thomas said.
The money likely will come from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a resource maintained through taxes on oil producers. Lindsey said he wouldn't be able to cover the expense.
It is still possible that the EPA will try to get him to pony up some money, an EPA spokesman said.
"He's potentially liable," said the agency's Mick Hans.
It is not clear whether the liability will follow the new owner.
And what if Lentz can't get the boat floating again?
One option would be to file for a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for maintaining navigation on the river, to leave the boat where it is. "It could be a fish habitat," Lindsey said.
Or it might have to be pulled from the water.
"We'll be taking a look at the sunken vessel in the river and see if there's some action we need to take," said Tim Smith, the enforcement and compliance coordinator for the Corps of Engineers.
Lentz's plan to live on the boat once it's resurrected will likely dismay area residents.
The boat had attracted criticism during its three-year berth in the waters near Prescott, with some folks calling it an eyesore.
The new owner says river residents should have faith. "I promise to make it look nice," Lentz said. "I can't let it go down yet, not without a fight."
Even Lindsey, who now is looking for a place to live in Dakota County, is a little hopeful about the boat, too.
"It's not like it hasn't been sunk before," he said. "It just keeps on getting resurrected."
John Brewer can be reached at jbrewer@pioneerpress.com or at 651-228-2093.
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mplspug
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Re: Ship Coming back up?????
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Quote:
One option would be to file for a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for maintaining navigation on the river, to leave the boat where it is. "It could be a fish habitat," Lindsey said.
There's still hope.
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"A fairytale starts out ‘Once upon a time.’ A fisherman’s story starts out, ‘This ain’t no bulls—.’"
Captain Phil Harris
MNCSA #7
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Suzuki
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Re: Ship Coming back up?????
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What a joke. Get that hunk of junk out of here. I'm tired of hearing about its history. My grampa faught in WWI but were not digging him up. That floating abortion has been disturbing the scenery for years. I remember it submerged in St. Paul. Scrap it!!
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Mike
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Jon Jordan
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Re: Ship Coming back up?????
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Quote:
What a joke. Get that hunk of junk out of here. I'm tired of hearing about its history. My grampa faught in WWI but were not digging him up. That floating abortion has been disturbing the scenery for years. I remember it submerged in St. Paul. Scrap it!!
Amen to that! If you don't have the money to even dock the thing, how can you even begin to believe the jokers are going to do any restoring!
Also, the last thing the Croix or pool 3 needs is a sunk boat for fish habitat. Get that thing out of the water!
-J.
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Perch_44
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Re: Ship Coming back up?????
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they sure are making progress on this one... 
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Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits...
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