Paul P. Hastings Tugboat
The Paul P. Hastings tugboat was built in 1945 at Point Pleasant, West Virginia by the Marietta Manufacturing Co. as hull number 530 for the US Army. The original name was LT (Large Tug) 814. She had a single screw powered by a three cylinder Skinner Uniflow steam engine of 1,200 hp (890 kW) served by twin Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers. Dimensions were 142 ft (43 m) long, 33 ft (10 m) in breadth, 16 ft (4.9 m) deep, gross weight 480 GRT, net weight 68 NRT.
On February 11, 1948 she was sold to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Co. of San Francisco and renamed A.T.&S.F. No. 8, VIN D256253, Call Sign WD9219. She was later renamed the Paul P. Hastings, in honor of Paul P. Hastings, the vice-president of traffic for the railroad, who died in 1947.
In 1964 the vessel was dieselized at the Todd Shipyard in Alameda, California with a 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) General Motors 567C EMD F-7 engine.
The Hastings had the longest period of service of the three post-war tugs: 36 years from 1948 until the railroad discontinued service in 1984. By the end she was the sole remnant of the tug fleet.
The Hastings was sold and eventually became owned by Robert Whipple of American Navigation (AmNav), a company still doing business in the Bay area. The Abstract of Title shows Levin Metals Corp., a scrap dealer, as an intermediate owner starting at an unspecified date with Whipple taking title on February 26, 1991. The vessel was renamed Terminator. (The first of the Terminator movies came out in 1984.) One source says the tug sat unused for years. In about 1991 Whipple, who had a reputation for added huge amounts of horsepower to old tugs, added two additional 3,600 hp (2,700 kW) diesel engines. The tug was not inspected by the Coast Guard after the engines were added.
The first job for the upgraded tug was to assist the Dock Express 20, a multi-purpose vessel of Dutch registry owned by Dock-Express Shipping B.V., in laying a fiber cable off Point Arena, California. Point Arena is north of San Francisco about 100 miles (160 km) and is the closest point on the west coast of the continental United States to Japan, hence is the landing point for many trans-Pacific cables.
The Terminator became a victim of a marine casualty: she sank. Details of the sinking are found in the US Coast Guard Marine Casualty investigation MC93011836 and Marine Violation investigation MV92003258.
Late in the day of Monday, January 27, 1992, the vessels were about 20 nautical miles (37 km) off the coast of California just north of Point Arena at N39°9.0', W124°10.5'. The weather was ugly: swell height was 15 feet (4.6 m) and increasing, wind speed was 35 knots (65 km/h). Trouble started when a two inch cable parted at the Sampson braid and the Terminator had to approach the Dock Express 20. It was now a little after 6 pm in deepening twilight (sunset was 5:31 pm).
Shortly after completing her approach to 100–150 feet (30–50 m) abeam of the Dock Express 20, Terminator lost the use of the center engine. The operator attempted to use the port and starboard engines in a twisting fashion to maneuver the vessel out of danger. Then the starboard engine tripped off-line leaving the Terminator with only one of three engines operating. Attempts to restart the starboard engine failed. The high seas were abeam (perpendicular) to the vessel and pushed her into the protruding sponson (a structure on the side of the ship) of the Dock Express 20, who was restricted in her ability to maneuver as a result of her cable laying operation and because of its size was much less affected by the seas. When the vessels collided the Terminator was coming down off the crest of a swell, while the Dock Express 20 was surging upwards from another wave.
The impact created a hole, estimated at 1 to 2 feet (0.3 to 0.6 m) in diameter, in the Terminator’s aft lazarette area (a storage space between decks). The incoming water flooded the shaft alley. The watertight door between the shaft alley and main engine compartment was permanently affixed open. A cutting torch was needed before the door could be secured. This process took 20 minutes and only slowed the water coming into the engine room. Pumps to de-water the vessel operated only intermittently. There was no eductor (a type of water pump). The aft peak tank and bilge were filled with concrete (presumably for stability) and this extra weight could not be shifted to another area of the vessel from where the vessel was taking on water.
With the ship starting to sink the order to abandon ship was given about an hour after the collision. After 15 minutes only the bow was visible and after another 10 minutes the vessel was completely underwater. All crew members entered the life raft and were picked up an hour later by the Craig Foss, a nearby tug which was diverted to assist. The Terminator sank in 800 fathoms (1,500 m) (almost a mile down), and there she remains.
About 35,000 US gallons (130,000 L) of diesel fuel on board spilled creating a light sheen in the vicinity which dissipated in a few days without cleanup. The vessel owner, Whipple, was fined $2100 for the oil spill.
So after having been spared from being scrapped, the Hastings sank.
Read more about this topic: Santa Fe Railroad Tugboats