HURRICANE FREDRICK GROUNDING - 1979


Tug removes riverboat from Port of Pensacola

The storm surge at Pensacola grounded an old riverboat in a slip at the Port of Pensacola during Hurricane Fredrick in 1979. Tugs were called from the Brown Marine fleet as soon as it was daylight but the high tides had shorted out the electric motor on the Bayou Chico drawbridge and it took awhile to get power back to the bridge so the tugs could get out of Bayou Chico and start pulling on the riverboat. Even though the tide had fallen considerably, through the efforts of the tugs Alton Sims and the Janet as well as a winch from Tex Edwards Crane company the old riverboat, which a local resturant owner was going to convert into a resturant and night club, was pulled off ground and transported to sheltered water in Bayou Chico.


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