Chickamauga tug owner may do jail time over sinking of historic tugboat

Published 3:04 pm Monday, July 25, 2016

The former owner of the historic tugboat “Chickamauga” may serve 20 days in jail after admitting he let the 100-year tugboat fall into disrepair and sink in Eagle Harbor in late 2013.

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office announced Monday that Anthony R. Smith, the owner of the Chickamauga, entered a guilty plea on charges of allowing the tugboat to become derelict, and polluting state waters.

The 100-year-old tugboat Chickamauga sank in Eagle Harbor in October 2013 and leaked approximately 200 to 300 gallons of diesel fuel into Puget Sound.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced charges against Smith — for causing a vessel to become abandoned or derelict, as well as polluting state waters and first-degree theft — in January 2014.

Smith was working in Alaska as a fisherman at the time, and he was released on personal recognizance after charges were filed.

His trial originally had been set for June 2014, but a $10,000 arrest warrant was issued when he did not appear for a status hearing the week before his trial was set to start.

Smith’s trial in Kitsap County Superior Court was expected to begin Monday.

But as part of a plea agreement, Smith agreed to plead guilty to the charges of causing a vessel to become abandoned or derelict and discharging polluting matter into state waters.

He was sentenced to 20 days in jail, or in home confinement, and will also be put on probation for two years.

As part of the plea agreement, first-degree theft charges for his alleged failure to pay moorage fees will be dismissed.

“Derelict vessels are very serious pollution threats to our aquatic environment,” Ferguson said Monday. “If you break our state laws and pollute our environment, my office will hold you accountable.”

The Washington Attorney General’s Office is also seeking more than $54,000 in restitution to the state departments of Ecology and Natural Resources.

A hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 9 in Kitsap County Superior Court.

The theft charge stemmed from Smith’s alleged failure to pay moorage fees on Bainbridge Island.

According to documents in the court case against Smith, authorities said he paid the first and last month’s moorage fees to Eagle Harbor Marina after piloting the Chickamauga there in February 2013, but then failed to make any other payments on his moorage fees. Smith also ignored repeated requests by the harbormaster at the marina to take care of the tugboat.

Marina officials were stymied in their attempts to contact Smith, who at first claimed the tugboat was really owned by his ex-wife.

The boat was eventually raised in late 2013 by a salvage team and towed to a marina in Port Townsend, where it was taken apart.

Built in 1915, the Chickamauga was the first American-designed and built diesel-powered tugboat in the United States and was placed on the Washington Heritage Register for its significant historic value.

The vessel was historically important as it was constructed in the era when ships were making the transition from steam to diesel engines. Diesel engines were still in their infancy and had only been patented 17 years before the Chickamauga was built.

No one was aboard the vessel when it sank in Eagle Harbor.

A more serious environmental disaster was avoided, however, due to the quick response to the scene by the Bainbridge Island Fire Department.