A 689-foot Canadian freighter struck an unknown object while crossing Lake Superior, taking on water but making it safely to port in Ontario despite a period of heavy listing.
The Coast Guard and other vessels responded to assist the Michipicoten, evacuating some of its 22 crew members, and helped control the flooding to stabilize the ship at a 5 degree list.
Pumps brought the leak under control and none were injured, as the freighter carried its load of taconite iron ore cargo intact to its destination.
Wow, here’s a Facebook photo of the MICHIPICOTEN taking on water in Lake Superior after hitting something near Isle Royale. Pumps reduced the listing from 15° to a 5° tilt, half the crew has been evacuated as she now heads to Thunder Bay. pic.twitter.com/MVDDMxu16C
— 🌲🌊 (@Chuckumentary) June 8, 2024
“The Coast Guard was definitely prepared to respond to any worst-case scenario: capsize or sink,” Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Joseph Snyder stated.
“Fortunately the vessel was able to control the flooding enough to get safely to Thunder Bay and we didn’t end up having to go that route.”
“The incident occurred in United States waters, the Coast Guard is obviously going to be invested in that side of things, but since it’s a Canadian flag vessel, the Canadian authorities are also going to be very invested,” Snyder said.
“It was carrying 16 long tons of taconite, fortunately none of its cargo entered the water and there’s been no report of pollution of any kind,” Snyder said.
“The spaces that were being flooded … essentially empty spaces, they were not spaces where the crew lived or worked and they were not areas where the cargo was,” Snyder said.
A joint Canadian-US investigation will be conducted due to the incident occurring in American waters with a Canadian-flagged vessel.
