The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1919-05-28
Mexoil Aground Outside
Atchafalaya Ship
Channel
Big Tanker, Weighted with 49,
900 Barrels of Oil, Blown
Aground by Winds

| Late reports from the Mexon,
aground outside the Channel near
here. are to the effect that the big
tanker was blown out of the channel
| by the terrific winds of last Saturday.
The boat, it appears, had entered
| the channel, but due to the heavy car
go, she could make but little head
way. The wind rose to such 4 ve-
locity that It was impossible to keep
! the ship in the channel. due also to
the fact that the hall was already
dragging the ground, making it iu-
possible to steer her
The Review mentioned yesterday
that the ship was stuck in the chan
mel. but while the channel is suffi-
ciently shallow at many points to
cause fourteen-foot draught boat
to get stuck, the Mexoil is about rs
feet away from the channel The
Orion. a Texas tugboat owned by
Capt. D. w. Ryan, arrived in port
last night to take out one of the
ships finished at the shipyard here,
and on the. way in had to pass the
Mexoil
"We tried to get to the tanker
said Captain Ryan, speaking to rep
resentative of the Review, "but this
tug draws fourteen feet of water, and
naturally we could no; give any help.
My other tug, which draws nine feet,
will be in tomorrow and | do not
doubt but that she will pull the Mex
oil off easily"
Captain Ryan stated thar he had
sounded the channel about ten days
ago preparatory to taking out the
ships from this port, and that from
piling 80 to 48 he had found but ten
feet of water The channel, dredged
a little over month ago is supposed
TO have a depth of II IL feet from
one end to the other The original.
channel depth before the war sus-
pended traffic was p feet Either
the silt has settled at very fast rate,
or else the work Of dredging was not
carried out
Soundings have also recently been
taken by Messrs Jules Lanaux and
Turner licensed pilots from here, and
they report that in many places they
found shallow depths The manager
pf Cho, Df ~
took a sounding, and he reports that.
he found a minimum depth of 10 feet.
1--WE would probably have had
trouble getting in." Captain Ryan
said, referring to his entry. "but the
tug simply plowed its way in through
the silt This sediment is not hard,
and can easily be swept aside by pow
erful tugs continually plying up and
down the channel. 1t is from the
cross currents and the fact that the
channel is but little used that she
ills up so quickly"
Captain Ryan suggested that good
way to clear the channel would be
10 drag it with heavy drag or har-
-ow. This. he thought would be
cheaper than dredging. and could be
lone in much less time. He refer
-ed to the possible exploitation Of
he channel for commercial purpos-
IS, and added that such incidents as
he hanging up of the Mexoil would
end to discourage shipping to this
,oint. In order to get the govern
nent to take care of the channel it
would be necessary to show that the
channel would be utilized.
"Of. course, the government does
lot want to waste any money on pro-
ects that will not be used, and in or
Ter to get recognition for the Atchaf-
llaya ship channel, you will have to
how that the big shippers of the
southwest want this channel and
want to come in to Morgan City.
The captain Of the Mexoil will have
o turn in a report upon his return,
md the chances are that the channel
will be blamed for his present pre-
licament. In view of this fact, the
company may never send another
hip here for fear that the same trou-
,le will occur"
Captain Ryan's statement covers
he situation thoroughly The next
question that arises is: What is to
,e done about it, That question is
or the commercial interests and busi-
less fraternity of Morgan City and
'icinity dependent upon the channel
o decide 1t is up to these people