CASCADE LOCKS — Quick action by captain and crew — and some “lucky breaks” — saved the historic Sternwheeler Columbia Gorge after she broke free of her moorings on Jan. 13, but it couldn’t save the Thunder Island footbridge.
After hurricane-strength winds parted every mooring rope, the vessel drifted down to lodge on the footbridge, said Jim Andrews, co-founder of JettyLight LLC.
“I think we got very fortunate with some lucky breaks. Probably if things hadn’t gone our way, we could have lost the Sternwheeler,” Andrews told the Cascade Locks Port Commission at their Jan. 16 meeting. “I’d like to commend the crew, in particular. They performed exceptionally well, they did things immediately and instantly to mitigate the possible additional damage to the vessel and they endured very challenging conditions to move the vessel to safety.”
JettyLight operates the Sternwheeler on a contract from the Port.
Cascade Locks resident Margie Curtis first spotted the vessel adrift at about 8:16 a.m. Curtis called Hood River County Sheriff’s office, and port and crew were contacted.
The Sternwheeler’s mooring lines had all broken. “We’re not exactly sure how strong the wings were but we’re pretty sure the winds were east over 50 knots for a good portion of the morning, and perhaps gusting to 80 knots, which, that’s hurricane force winds,” Andrews said. The crew, expecting 40 knots of east wind, had moored accordingly; but everything from the 10-year-old, three-inch braided nylon headline to the one-year-old spring lines, breastlines and a galvanized chain, along with other moorings, had parted under the wind’s force.
In January 2023, the vessel’s moorings had withstood 70-knot winds. “It would not be unusual for one or two of the lines to part in a sustained gale wind, and for us to get additional lines on there,” Andrews explained. The lines were all regularly inspected. “It wasn’t that the lines weren’t made up correctly, they were made up correctly, they just simply parted under force.”
The vessel then drifted broadside in the Columbia, were Curtis spotted it, and downstream into the middle of the lock entrance.
Curtis never saw the vessel touch the lock’s walls. That’s one lucky break, Andrews said. If it had got stuck, he’s certain the vessel would’ve had “very extensive damage.”
“If we got the vessel broadside pinned against that opening, we’d have had no option to get the vessel away from that position,” he explained.
Deckhand George Torres and Captain Tom Cramblett arrived on scene around 8:30 a.m. and found the Sternwheeler hung up, paddle wheel tucked under the pedestrian bridge, one deck below the bridge span and one above.
Impact damaged one of two Native American fishing platforms on the locks’ southern face. “I think it’s likely that that platform helped the Sternwheeler get into the position that she did, which saved the paddle wheel from being damaged,” Andrews said. Although he added, “I am quite upset” about the destruction, Andrews said he’s glad the boat escaped being further damaged.
Cramblett and Torres boarded where the vessel had fetched up against the bridge and performed a safety scan, testing the paddle wheel.
Meanwhile, Port Director Jeremiah Blue witnessed the bridge becoming dislodged from its position by resulting wind and wave action, and communicated this by hand signals from shore.
The bridge would have continued to slide westward until the mainland end was no longer supported, and it fell into the river and was destroyed, Andrews explained, potentially endangering the lives and health of Cramblett and Torres. The two maneuvered the vessel safely off the bridge.
They made two approaches to the sternwheeler dock, but safe mooring proved impossible in the heavy winds and seas. Cramblett navigated downriver towards Bonneville Locks, were crew member Steven Hammrich finished his 40-minute drive and climbed aboard as the vessel was locked through to its new downriver mooring.
The vessel’s new mooring is well protected from an east wind, Andrews said, but blizzard-force gusts from the west in coming days would still be concerning.
Every port commissioner extended thanks to those who responded, and Blue lauded one of the “unsung heroes of the rescue,” Hammrich, who spent hours aboard, unable to contact his wife due to internet outages.
“They did a major service for us, and for the community, because we all love that boat,” Commissioner Pamela Thweatt said.
While the vessel wasn’t taking on water, an oil leak was found, and the Coast Guard required an immediate drydocking for underwater hull inspection. Damage is mostly to the superstructure metal, and can be repaired.
The bridge, missing a hunk of concrete, is closed. Repair may mean bringing in a crane to patch it up, Blue said. “It’s a pretty critical bridge for us, a number of our events are reliant on that,” he noted.
So far, no more witnesses to the vessel’s renegade journey have been found. Andrews encouraged any witness to contact the port. “I’d love to talk to them,” he said. “I’m sure they’d have a perspective that would be of value to us.”
Investigation by the port, Coast Guard and JettyLight is ongoing.
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