The City and Borough of Juneau Docks and Harbors, Global Diving and Salvage, and Coast Guard Sector Juneau, scuttled the derelict tugboat Lumberman offshore in Southeast Alaska on Sunday.
The 154-foot Coast Guard Cutter John McCormick towed the Lumberman, a 107-ft steel hulled tugboat to a position 54 miles west of Cross Sound where it was sunk in over 8,400 feet of water.
The Lumberman had rested abandoned in Gastineau Channel west of June since 2016 and was considered a hazard and derelict vessel. For years the community has tried to determine its fate. In 2017, the Coast Guard removed oil products from the old tug, and in 2020, the boat had to be re-anchored after drifting in the shallows. The City and Borough of Juneau applied for and received an EPA permit to sink the vessel in a place where it would not be a navigation hazard.
The portion of Gastineau Channel where the boat was moored and abandoned can only be navigated by most vessels during high tide.
