MEDIA STATEMENT
DATE: 15 November 2018
EMBARGO: None
SALVAGING OF TUG DE MIST: UPDATE OF 15 NOVEMBER 2018
The SA Navy decided to attempt to salvage Tug De Mist, making use of internal resources.
Tug De Mist sank on Saturday 10 November in the Still Water Basin of Simon’s Town
Harbour. She settled on her Port side (left side) at a depth that ranged from 8 m to 10 m,
with her bow (front) lying deepest. This was not an ideal position, as the divers could not
attach lifting bags to both sides of the Tug. They attached bags to one side only, which
cause her to roll onto her other side. This was done on Wednesday 14 November. She is
currently lying at an angle of 30 degrees to Starboard (right side). Fortunately the divers
can now work on both sides of the Tug.
On Thursday the SA Navy divers are closing all vents and watertight hatches inside the Tug
to make it as airtight as possible. From here the plan is to use two large hoses to
simultaneously pump water out of the hull and air into the hull. The divers will also attach
numerous lifting bags (to give 50 tons of lift) to the vessel. This will make the Tug positively
buoyant, causing her to rise. Fortunately the Tug sank approximately 50m from the
Syncrolift facility in the Harbour. The Synchrolift platform is designed to be lowered into the
water, where a ship then sails onto the lift and is raised out of the water by means of
winches. Tug De Mist only needs to be raised off the bottom of the seabed to clear the
Synchrolift platform.
It is planned to move Tug de Mist to the synchrolift and lift her completely out of the water.
At this point in time the operation has been conducted with existing Naval equipment, and
no special equipment had to be procured. The SA Navy Divers, Naval Engineering Section
and Armscor Dockyard have been working tirelessly to solve numerous mathematical,
physical and engineering problems in order to lift the Tug safely. This whole operation has
been an ideal training opportunity as it provided invaluable practical salvage experience for
the SA Navy. The salvage operation is proceeding slowly, due to the fact that all the Navy
Divers are given opportunity to work on the salvage operation, even the less experienced
divers, in order to gain experience.
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Throughout this operation a floating barrier to contain the minimal oil spill has been in place.
Unfortunately there is more oil escaping from the Tug due to the salvage operation. In order
to ensure no oil escapes the Still Water Basin, a second barrier was placed between the Still
Water and Outer Basin of the Harbour. Some of the oil has already been recovered from
the water. The origin of the oil is most probably from the bilge of the vessel. The Tug only
had enough diesel onboard to start the generators, as most of the fuel was removed when
she was decommissioned.
If all goes according to plan, Tug De Mist should be out of the water in the next few days.
Ends
Enquiries: Commander Greyling van den Berg
081 784 7134
pgvdb@sanavy.co.za