A sinking boat spilled diesel fuel into the Chesapeake Bay near Havre de Grace Tuesday after fuel containment booms failed to stop a leak from spreading, officials said.
The boat had partially sunk and began to leak fuel late Monday while docked at Millard E. Tydings Memorial Park, said Susquehanna Hose Co. Assistant Chief Scott Hurst. Owner Mobile Dredging and Pumping Co. put out a floating barrier to contain the leak, but someone called the fire department at about 6 p.m. to report a slick on the open water, Hurst said.
Mobile Dredging president Jerry Vetter said the first containment system worked, but officials from the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Department of Natural Resources said the fuel had spread beyond the barriers Tuesday.
MDE and U.S. Coast Guard officials were at the scene Wednesday to monitor the leak, and the boat?s owner had set up a second boom to contain the spill, said Petty Officer Sean Hawes of the Coast Guard?s Sector Baltimore command center.
The fire department initially estimated the boat could have spilled “hundreds” of gallons of fuel, Hurst said, but MDE spokesman Richard McIntire said only 10 gallons leaked into the Bay. Department of Natural Resources Police Sgt. Charles Kelso said no fuel could be seen or smelled on the water Wednesday afternoon.
The size of the fuel slick on the water may have led investigators to believe the leak was bigger, Hurst said. “If you take 10 gallons of diesel fuel and throw it on top of the water, it?s going to spread out over 100 yards.”
The owners of the boat will be attempting to raise the vessel and determine why it sank, said president Jerry Vetter. The dredging company will handle the remaining cleanup operation, Vetter said.
