Tugboat Partially Sinks On The Gowanus Canal On A Rainy Sunday

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The little white tugboat on the canal this past Thursday, before it sank.

****See 10/27/2019 update below the post****

Heavy rains may have been the reason a small tugboat partially sank on the Gowanus Canal this afternoon.
The boat was being used for work related to the  Fulton Bulkhead Barrier Wall construction at the head of the canal.

The construction work is part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund clean-up of the heavily polluted waterway.  It is being performed by contractors for  National Grid under EPA's supervision and began in late August.

Photo taken late Sunday afternoon

photo credit: Brad Vogel

Photo credit: Brad Vogel

The photos above of the sunken tugboat were sent to us by friend and Gowanus Canal Dredgers Canoe Club member Brad Vogel, who told us that It happened during the storm earlier today.  Oil spill prevention booms on it by the time it was first noted

The incident has  been reported to both EPA and National Grid and oil spill prevention booms have been placed around the boat.

Below is the sunken barge from another angle taken by David Waitz before the booms were put in place.

Photo by David Waitz via Gowanus Dredgers

It seems odd for a tugboat to sink even on a  rainy day like today.  It will be interesting to find out the reason this could have happen.

 Update:
The photo of the tugboat below was taken on Monday, October 27th, after it was lifted out of the water. It was sent to us by Christos Tsiamis, EPA project manager for the Gowanus Canal Superfund clean-up

According to Tsiamis, "the reason for its partial sinking was that the bilge pump (that pumps water out of the boat) failed during that big rainfall (while no work was being done) and all the water stayed on the boat…"