Two casualties in the Philippines leave several dead or missing

     On 15 Aug., a sightseeing vessel sank in Manila Bay, the Philippines,
and a ferry sank in the Visayan Islands. In Manila Bay, seven people were
killed when the King Rogers (5.46-ton, 15.7-meter/51.5-foot long wooden
vessel), sank late the afternoon of 15 Aug., only 9.1 meters/30 feet from
the pier. The 39 others aboard were rescued. The vessel left the Manila
Yacht Club. The Kalibo Star (485-gt ferry operated by Kalibo Shipping
Lines, owned by K&P Shipping Lines) capsized and sank in bad weather while
sailing to Tacloban. At last report, at least 11 were killed though reports
are conflicting. Some 61 passengers and 27 crew were rescued. The vessel
left Cebu, the Philippines, at 2000 14 Aug. Strong winds and heavy seas
were reported around the area of the sinking, on the northern tip of Leyte
Island near the isle of Maripipi and off Biliran Island.

Four dead, more than 20 missing after capsizing in Vietnam

     A ferry collided with several barges outside Hanoi, Vietnam, on 12
Aug. and capsized. At least four persons were killed and more than 20 are
missing.

Fishing vessel capsizing leaves 20 missing

     Twenty people are missing and three were rescued after the fishing
vessel Rahayu IV capsized and sank in the the Sunda Strait in Indonesia on
11 Aug.

One dead after tug sinks off Alaska

     The Gail S (24-meter/80-foot tug owned by Island Tug and Barge Co.)
sank in Bristol Bay, Alaska, late in the morning of 13 Aug. The U.S. Coast
Guard rescued the master, Steve Miller, 49, of Seward, Alaska; Roald
Biktjorn, 60, of Seattle; Bruce Hix, 28, of Maple Valley, Wash.; Dean
Stabbert, 36, of Redmond, Wash. Les A. Carstensen, 46, is missing.
Biktjorn, Hix and Stbbert were treated and realsed at Kanakanak Hospital in
Dillingham, Alaska, while Miller remains hospitalized with hypothermia. The
tug had towed a barge carrying 4,000 tons of rock from St. Paul Island,
Alaska, to Bethel, Alaska, for a river reclamation project. After the barge
was loaded with earth-moving equipment, the tow sailed for Seattle. Weather
included rain, seas of 1.2 meters/four feet to 1.5 meters/five feet and
visibility of eight kilometers/five miles. About 1030, the Gail S sent a
distress call. After the tug rolled over, Hix and Stabbert were able to get
aboard a liferaft while Biktjorn, Carstensen and Miller floated nearby. A
Coast Guard HC-130H Hercules arrived 30 minutes later and dropped a second
liferaft. About 1600, an HH-60J Jayhawk from Coast Guard Air Station
Kodiak, Alaska, rescued four of the crew. Another tug cut the barge from
the sunken Gail S and towed it to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on 14 Aug.

"Whale-watching" vessel burns, sinks off Massachusetts

     The Super Daunty VII (22-meter/72-foot wooden "whale-watching" vessel
built in 1981, owned by Cape Ann Whale Watch Inc.) caught fire outside
Gloucester, Mass., shortly after 1200 9 Aug. All 147 passengers were
removed by another whale-watching vessel, the Yankee Spirit, and two U.S.
Coast Guard boats from Coast Guard Station Gloucester, a 14-meter/47-foot
motor lifeboat and a 12-meter/41-foot utility boat. The decision was made
to let the fire burn itself out and the Super Daunty VII sank about 1.2
kilometers/0.75 miles outside the harbor.

Indian-registry dry cargo ship partially sinks at Mumbai

     The Vishva Nandini (Indian-registry 11,001-gt, 13,715-dwt motor dry
cargo ship built in 1978, operated by Shipping Corp. of India Ltd.)
partially sank at the Port of Mumbai, India, on 7 Aug. The ship's engine
room flooded and its stern came to rest on the harbor bottom. The Vishva
Nandini reportedly hit a submerged object, suffering a two-meter/6.5-foot
gash below the waterline. The Indian Navy and the Mumbai Port Trust are
working to salvage the ship.

Amyndas catches fire at Perama

     A fire started aboard the Amyndas (Maltese-registry 43,000-gt,
123,597-dwt tanker built in 1977, operated by Starlady Marine Ltd.) at
Perama, Greece, the afternoon of 14 Aug. The ship was docked for repairs
and the crew was uninjured. At last report, fires were being fought in two
cargo tanks.

Research vessel with 150 aboard runs aground in Bosporus

     The Vityaz' (Russian-registry 5,291-gt, 1,808-dwt,
110.93-meter/363.94-foot motor research ship built in 1981 by Adolf Warski
Shipyard at Szczecin, Poland) suffered rudder failure on 1 Aug. at the
north entrance to the Bosporus Strait. Currents caused the Vityaz' to run
agroynd at Tarabya, Turkey, where the 150 aboard were evacuated. There were
no injuries.

Taiwanese-registry ship runs aground at Pusan

     The Dongjin Sky (Taiwanese-registry 551-gt motor vessel built in 1973)
dragged its anchor in the outer harbor of Pusan, South Korea, on 9 Aug.
during high winds. The ship ran aground in the Namhang Breakwater.

General cargo spills oil off Finland

     The Halsingland (German-registry 3,845-gt, 4,334-dwt,
105-meter/344-foot general cargo ship built in 1990, operated by Aros
Shipping GmbH) ran aground off Kalajoki, Finland, on 14 Aug. in bad
weather. The ship was sailing to Rahja. It has 160 tons of heavy fuel and
30 tons of diesel aboard. Late 15 Aug. about 10 tons of oil washed ashore.
More than 150 people are cleaning the spill. The Halsingland had 11
crewmembers and a Finnish pilot aboard and eight have been evacuated.

Ship carrying coal runs aground in Turkey

     The Nadya (Turkish-registry 487-dwt motor vessel built in 1969) ran
aground at 39 degrees 59.45 minutes north, 26 degrees 10.21 minutes east on
12 Aug., at the enterance to Canakkale, Turkey. The Nadya was carrying 900
tons of coal from Iskenderun, Turkey, to Tekirdag, Turkey. The ship
refloated itself the same day and anchored off Karanlik Liman.

Bateaux mouche hits bridge in Paris

     The Parisis (French-registry bateaux mouche operated by Vedettes du
Pont-Neuf) allided with a butress of the Pont Neuf bridge over the Seine
River in Paris on 11 Aug. Twenty-seven persons, mostly tourists, were
injured, most with bruises. However, one person was in serious condition
after a blow to the chest. According to Vedettes du Pont-Neuf, the Parisis
lost steering after an electrical failure.

Canadian-registry bulk carrier assists pleasure craft in Michigan

     About 1000 10 Aug., the 13-meter/43-foot pleasure vessel Sole
Pleasure, near Gravelley Shoals in Saginaw Bay, Mich., sent out a distress
call after a fire. The five aboard were able to extinguish the fire, but
the vessel was disabled. The U.S. Coast Guard requested that the Algoway
(Canadian-registry 16,187-gt, 24,893-dwt, 11,08-nt, 198-meter/650-foot
motor bulk carrier built in 1972 by Collingwood Shipyards Ltd. at
Collingwood, Ontario, Canada; operated by Algoma Central Corp.), which was
in the area, try to spot the Sole Pleasure. After doing so, the Algoway
took the pleasure craft in tow to the mouth of the bay, where another
vessel took over to tow it to port.

Bodies of crew recovered from sunken tug in Singapore

     The bodies of four Indonesian citizens and one Philippine citizen were
recovered 8 and 9. Aug. after a Singaporean-registry tug operated by
Universal Dockyard Ltd. capsized and sank off Pulau Retan Laut near the
Pasir Panjang Container Terminal in Singapore at 0820 7 Aug. An Indonesian
citizen survived and is hospitalized at Singapore National University
Hospital. The tug was towing a Belizian-registry barge loaded with rocks
for use as a foundation for caissons. The barge also capsized but remained
afloat.

Goodwill towed to Indonesia

     The Goodwill (Panamanian-registry 75,277-gt, 149,401-dwt bulk carrier
built in 1992, operated by Keoyang Shipping Co. Ltd.) has been towed to the
Sunda Strait off Indonesia by the tug Smit Lloyd 111. On 31 July, the ship
ran aground on a reef near the Muirfield Seamount, 110 kilometers/69 miles
southwest of Australia's Cocos Islands. Loaded with 145,000 tons of iron
ore, 1,130 tons of heavy fuel and 107 tons of diesel fuel, it was
reportedly sailing from Dampier, Australia, to Dunkirk, France. After the
ship began flooding, the 21 crewmembers (11 Indonesian citizens and 10
South Korean citizens) abandoned it and were rescued early the next day by
a British-registry vessel, which sailed to Perth, Australia. The same day,
the Goodwill began drifting and was boarded by a salvage team from
Singapore. The ship has keel damage, no power and no steering. The Goodwill
will unload its cargo before entering a shipyard.

Report on 1996 collision near Wellington

     The New Zealand Marine Safety Authority has released its report on the
collision of the Sydney Express (6,850-dwt, 592-TEU capacity containership
built in Germany in 1996, owned and operated by Tasman Express Line Ltd.)
and the Maria Luisa (17-meter/56-foot trawler) at the entrance to the Port
of Wellington, New Zealand, the night of 29 Dec. Five people aboard the
trawler, all of the same family, were killed. One crewmember survived. The
report cites failure to comply with regulations and improper watchkeeping
as the primary causes. A yacht sailing on the wrong side of the channel
caused the Sydney Express to change course, while the Maria Luisa did not
maintain a course near the eastern limit. Failure to observe ships
positions and errors in judgement were also cited.

Danish report on collision released

     A Danish report on a collision between a catamaran ferry and a fishing
vessel states that the primary cause was one of two officers on watch
aboard the ferry leaving the bridge briefly to use the toilet. Since the
ferries are usually sailing at around 35 knots, two officers routinely are
present to handle navigation. The fishing vessel sank.

OBITUARY

Emil Mosbacher dies at 75

     Emil (Bus) Mosbacher Jr., who was the skipper of two America's Cup
yachts, died 13 Aug. at his home in Greenwich, Conn. He was 75. The cause
was cancer. Mosbacher was the chairman of the first Operation Sail in New
York in 1976. He also helped organized the Operation Sail events in 1986
and 1992. The son of a stockbroker who withdrew from the market just before
the Great Depression, Mosbacher oversaw the family businesses of oil,
natural gas and real estate after serving on a U.S. Navy minesweeper in the
Pacific Ocean during World War II. His father, a member of the
Knickerbocker Yacht Club, helped work out the specifications of the
Interclub-class of racing sloops. Mosbacher later won eight consecutive
season championships in the International-class in the 1950s. Mosbacher was
the skipper on the Vim in the 1958 America's Cup trials. He was skipper of
the Weatherly in 1962, when it won in the fourth race, to take the cup, by
26 seconds, the smallest margin in the race's history. In 1968, Mosbacher
won a second America's Cup aboard the 12-meter Intrepid. Shortly before
Richard M. Nixon was inaugurated as the U.S. president, Mosbacher was named
the U.S. State Department's chief of protocol. He served in 1972 and the
next year, New York Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller named Mosbacher as head of
the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. Mosbacher resigned six months
later, after his U.S.$75,000 salary (second only among public servants to
the president and the governor) became an issue in the 1974 election.
Mosbacher is survived by his wife, Patricia; three sons, Emil III of San
Diego, R. Bruce of Woodside, Calif., and John of Greenwich; a brother,
Robert, of Houston; a sister, Barbara, of New York; and two grandchildren.