The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1919-06-02
Mexoil Arrives with Cargo
of Oil from
Mexico
Big Tanker Has Trouble Getting
in; Channel too Shallow in
Spots, Says Captain

The Mexoil, the big tanker Of the
Mexican Oil Company, arrived in
port Saturday afternoon with a car
after a weeks delay caused by the
boat going aground outside the chan-
mel near here.
The original trouble was caused by
the terrific winds of week ago.
The boat was loaded with sixteen
thousand barrels of oil, and the hull
dragged the ground TO such an extent
that it could not be steered. After
finding that the boat could not come
in with the big cargo, barges were
sent for, and the ship was lightered
so that she drew only ten feet of
water. This enabled her to come in
to Morgan City without trouble. The
balance of the Mexoil's cargo was
discharged at Glenwild and at Pat
terson. She will leave tomorrow
morning on the return trip to Mexi-
CO.
Captain H. c. Koch. in charge of
the Mexoil, expressed the opinion
that the recent dredging of the chan
mel was not properly done, the dredg-
er skipping spots leaving depth
of from ten to Is feet in many places
1t is impracticable for IA foot boat
to navigate in ten feet Of water.
at was the plan of my company to
send ship here every five days"
said the captain, but in new of the
trouble we hive h-d in entering, l
cannot say that they will carry out
this plan 1t is, of course, impractic-
ible for them to send ships here un-
less the channel is made navigable.
To do this, I think that it will have
to be dredged again. | don't know
what the possibilities of having this
done amount to, but I hope to see
something done. 1t is much more
profitable for the company to make
this city its shipping terminus than
New Orleans. They contemplate
putting up a tank field here, but this
cannot be done until they are assured
that their boats can come in without
any trouble
The fact that the Mexoil could not
get in without being lightered veri-
fies the soundings taken by the
Chamber of Commerce and interest
ed parties, including a representative
of the shipping board. At the. time
these soundings were taken, it was
found that the channel was but nine
feet deep in many spots.
The Chamber of Commerce is TAX
ing up the matter of making the cham
mel navigable with federal author
tiles. A communication from the
District Engineers office advises
the Chamber of Commerce that the
matter has been referred to another
department for investigation, and it
is hoped that action will be taken
without delay to make it possible
for deep-sea vessels to come IN with I
out trouble.
!: The theory has been advanced that
the captain said it sounded plausible.
will keep it clear, as the silt and
sediment would thus be swept out
every time a vessel passed through
Asked as to his views on this theory,
the captain it sounded plausible
"While this would tend to keep the
channel clear, I believe that some
thing else would have to be done at
least once year by way of dredging
or dragging the channel" he added
"and think that the federal govern
ment, who own and finance the cham
mel. should see that this is done. W
course. it is up to the people OF
Morgan City to keep the matter be-
fore the federal authorities. think
our Chamber of Commerce is do
ing some good work in this respect
and their continual hammering is
bound to get results. Ny company
is anxiously watching the results of
this trip. which is more or less OF
an experiment at this stage, and If
they can see the piausibility of tn
undertaking, I am confident that l
will be making the weekly trips to
this port"