Tallship Irving Johnson In Trouble

[Black Hearted Pearl]

My friends, Prayers are needed now.

Ship Runs Aground, Sailors Rescued

OXNARD — A two-masted sailing ship with 20 crew members and students aboard went aground and was battered by waves near a rock jetty Monday evening, forcing dramatic rescues in heaving seas.

Individuals in life jackets jumped off one by one and were picked up by rescuers on personal watercraft. All aboard were accounted for, the Ventura County Fire Department said on its Web site.

The scene was broadcast live by ABC7 Eyewitness News, which reported that four people were rescued from the 58-degree water initially. Others leaped overboard as waves rolled the ship severely, pushing it toward the rocks.

Rescuers on watercraft darted into the white surge and pulled sailors to safety.

The vessel was identified as the Irving Johnson, a brigantine completed in 2003 for the Los Angeles Maritime Institute's TopSail Youth Program.

The boat was being used for a seven-day team-building trip through the Channel Islands by students from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, said Laura Trulson, the institute's education director.

Ten students and 10 crew were aboard the boat, she said. She did not know how the vessel got into trouble.

The vessel is 90 feet long, with 4,450 square feet of sail, a rigging height of nearly 88 feet and a diesel engine. The sails were furled during the rescue northwest of Los Angeles.

At one point a rescue boat tugged on the vessel with a tow line, straining to pull it bow-first into the waves, but the vessel turned sideways to the waves, which crashed over its decks. The surf eventually turned the abandoned ship bow first toward land, pushing it in and out of the shallows along the rocks.

[Black Hearted Pearl]

[Black Hearted Pearl]

The sirens of the seas are fighting fiercly to keep the ship. I do hope they do not win.

[the Royaliste]

She's bow to, and the Coast Guard is waiting for the tide to release her...

[Black Hearted Pearl]

There's mention that she already has keel damage. If the tide releases it, will it still float?

[the Royaliste]

Usually, unless really holed, a wooden vessel will hit some point of stability in the water, hence the reason to put the liferaft in the highest place; it may not need to be deployed........Should be alright, barring complications.....

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Sounds like, at the minimum, it will be drydocked for 2005 Tallship Challenge. Once less target for you.

[the Royaliste]

Actually, unless some serious structural issues are found, she should be sailin' soon...her engine room's full, but..I've filled the engine room more than once, it takes me three days by me onesies to have all the engine fluids changed, filters, etc..and up 'n runnin'..they have more help, so...hope for the best

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Storm threatens effort to save beached sailing ship

Updated, 4:15 p.m. The day after 20 passengers and crew were forced to jump from the grounded ship, officials survey the damage and consider the prospects of refloating the San Pedro vessel when the tide is high tonight.

From Daily Breeze staff and news service reports

A $4 million sailing ship built in San Pedro lay aground but possibly in salvageable condition today after being abandoned by 20 crewmembers and passengers, who were rescued from stormy seas.

The Irving Johnson was tilted and water-logged but its trim white hull and 88-foot-high rigging appeared intact. Its 4,450 square feet of sail were still safely reefed as it listed inside the breakwater at Channel Islands Harbor.

The two-masted wooden vessel was stuck about 200 feet offshore in about 5 feet of water, said Capt. Jim Gladson, president of the Los Angeles Maritime Institute in San Pedro, which operates the vessel.

Divers found the 90-foot hull intact but water apparently came in through the chain-locker and the engine room may have flooded, Gladson said.

In addition, about 800 gallons of fuel for the diesel engine had to be offloaded to ease weight and prevent a spill before a tug could attempt to pull the vessel free when high tide rolls in about 8 tonight, Gladson said.

"The boat's on the beach right now," he said. "The tide's gone out so it's resting a little more quietly, so it's not trying to float with every wave going by."

"It's not currently in danger of breaking up," he said. "If the boat's floating, it's a success story."

However, more stormy weather arrived today.

The wind was blowing and the swells were high from an approaching storm Monday afternoon when the brigantine hit a sandbar near a stone jetty just inside the breakwater as it was maneuvering into the harbor, the Coast Guard said.

Waves smacked the boat, pushing it towards the shore. Witness Rozanne Holmes said she saw six people knocked off the boat into the 58-degree water.

The other crew members and passengers were ordered to jump into the water so crews could rescue them.

All had life jackets and were brought safely to shore, although three passengers had to be treated for hypothermia at hospitals.

"They were soaked," Holmes said. "It was freezing. I gave one of the girls my jacket."

The Coast Guard tried to tow the boat but made no headway in the heavy swell and the rope finally broke, Coast Guard Chief Luis Munoz said. Throughout the night, it was pushed closer to shore.

The vessel had got too close to the south jetty, Munoz said, but he did not know whether the sandbar she struck was part of an existing shelf or was an obstacle created overnight by the large swells.

Recent storms have built up sand and silt in other local channels. A few miles northward, the Ventura City Council approved an emergency contract Monday to remove the material deposited by recent heavy storms.

Gladson said there was "no identifiable failure" by the crew and captain that might have caused the mishap.

"It'd be like a sinkhole opening up in front of you on the freeway and the first thing you know is, you're in it," he said.

"All of the indications were that everybody did the right thing at the right time," he said. "They got everybody off (safely)."

Holmes, who works at a local cafe, said the beaching was the talk of the community today.

"Everyone is coming in talking about the boat, all the locals, saying what the Coast Guard should have done."

"I think it is a shame that such a beautiful boat had to go down like that," she said. "It's just tragic for the people. I'm sure it was a traumatizing experience, being tossed back and forth in the surf."

The boat is one of two custom-built vessels designed to look like 19th century windjammers.

The boat, which left San Pedro on Saturday and was due home Friday, was being used for a seven-day team-building trip through the Channel Islands by students from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, said Laura Trulson, the institute's education director.

Ten students and 10 crew members were aboard the boat, she said.

"My boat, my boat," lamented a tearful Alice Robinson, a longtime volunteer with the TopSail program based in San Pedro, where the brigantines are used as training vessels for at-risk youths.

Interviewed on her cell phone, Robinson was driving to Oxnard at about 6 p.m. to survey the damage. Gladson, president of the TopSail program, also planned to drive up Monday night.

He said the program's staff Monday was busy "fielding telephone calls from people in various stages of hysteria."

The Irving Johnson is one of two brigantine ships built by professional shipbuilders and scores of volunteers on San Pedro's waterfront. They were completed in 2003.

The building of the vintage vessels provided a living history demonstration during those years as ancient shipbuilding skills such as cabinet-making, rigging and carpentry were passed on to a new generation.

The $8 million project culminated with the ships' commissioning on March 28, 2003. Much of the funding was provided by the Crail-Johnson Foundation and other private donors.

The Irving Johnson is outfitted with 4,450 square feet of sail, a rigging height of nearly 88 feet and a diesel engine. The sails were furled during Monday's rescue.

At one point a rescue boat tugged on the vessel with a tow line, straining to pull it bow-first into the waves, but the vessel turned sideways to the waves, which crashed over its decks. The surf eventually turned the abandoned ship bow first toward land, pushing it in and out of the shallows along the rocks.

[Black Hearted Pearl]

March 23, 2005

Alex Silva, a marine-salvage specialist, swims to the Irving Johnson on Tuesday. The ship ran aground on Silver Strand Beach in Oxnard, Calif., on Monday, forcing 20 crew members and students to jump overboard. The vessel is 90 feet long, with rigging nearly 88 feet high and two masts.

Star-Telegram

[Duncan McGuyver]

Irving Johnson saved !

SFGate.Com Article

Salvage crews on Thursday freed a grounded sailing ship that became stuck earlier this week while entering Channel Islands Harbor in stormy seas.

Beachgoers cheered as the crew tugged the San Pedro-based Irving Johnson out of the sand bar.

"The boat is free," said Chris Grisafe, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard. "She's seaworthy for the immediate purposes."

Salvage crew members were inspecting the boat to assess the damage, he said.

Teams emptied the water and dug a temporary berm on the shore side of the boat so that waves breaking on the beach would instead bounce back and push the boat to sea.

Salvagers planned to tug the boat five miles to Ventura Harbor, Grisafe said.

Twenty passengers and crew members were aboard the 90-foot brigantine when it hit the sandbar Monday. They were rescued after they fell or jumped into the chilly waters. Three of them were treated for hypothermia.

[Coastie04]

HUZZAH!!!

I just heard myself. On the Lady Washington Website, they mentioned that "The folks at LAMI have completed the difficult task of re-floating Irving Johnson. She floats on her lines and with some TLC from the shipwrights in Ventura, the Irving will sail again soon."

Congrats to all those involved, and I'm glad she did not face the same fate of so many before her.

Coastie

[the Royaliste]

She was due to be hauled in April, so there'll just be more to inspect and refit now....Good news...

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Huzzah! A round for the lovely CG for coming to the rescue.

[privateer]

Salvagers planned to tug the boat five miles to Ventura Harbor, Grisafe said.

ummmm...

she ran aground less than a hundred yard from the entrance to ventura. the dumb ass trusted the charts to an entrance that is notorious for sand bars rather than come from the north.... with a high surf advisery. and I know for fact it has a depth meter aboard.

sorry

she is a great ship and a fine captain. I watched him sail away from king harbor with no moter less than a month ago . but the media blew a simple bad judgement call that led to a grounding into a huge story.