A 65-foot yacht, called Silver Lining, began taking on water about a mile south of the Hood Canal Bridge on the evening of July 23.

The vessel began taking on water after striking an unknown object in the shallows of the canal, resulting in hull damage. The eight people aboard attempted to pump the water out but were ultimately unsuccessful. Recognizing the danger, the passengers rescued themselves and took the vessel’s dinghy to shore, where the owner called the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and their insurance company.

The owner went back to the ship when the USCG arrived to continue pumping water out.

“There was too much water for the pumps to handle,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Levi Read

USCG Puget Sound, Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) all responded to the call.

“The vessel was carrying 760 gallons of fuel. We were initially told 300 gallons, so we pulled nearly twice that amount out once the vessel was re-floated,” Read said.

It also appears that Silver Lining lived up to its name, fortunately there appeared to be minimal damage to the fuel tanks as there was minimal visible sheen.

“It appeared to have released no fuel, but it’s possible that it lost up to 12 gallons,” said Larry Altose, Communications Manager for DOE.

“It was fortunate that this incident resulted in little, if any, environmental damage,” Altose said.

The owner of the vessel’s insurance company paid for a contractor to come and tow the boat to a boatyard in Port Townsend where it will be repaired. It also paid for Global Diving and Salvage dive team to come out and contain any potential leakage.

WSDOT was on hand with an inflatable Zodiac boat to ferry first responders to and from the incident.