Sunken Vessel; Entrance to St Mary's River, MI

Entrance to St Mary's River, MI | 2013-Jul-01

Initial Notification: At 0550 (local) on 01JULY2013, the SSC was notified by USCG Sector Sault Ste. Marie of an incident on the St. Mary's River in Michigan. A vessel towing three barges and an unmanned, unlit tugboat was transiting from Gros Cap, Ontario headed down river. At approximately 0326, the vessel pulled into Waiska Bay, MI to shorten its tow when it discovered the tug was missing. The towing vessel turned around to look for the tug and found a life ring from the tug and odor of diesel near the "35" ATON. The presumably sunken vessel was carrying approximately 200 gallons of diesel and 15 gallons of lube oil. USCG requested that NOAA provide information regarding the threat posed by the products aboard as well as a trajectory and information on the fate of the products.