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Series of Events Relating to the sinking of M/V Sub Sea Surveyor

Friday-December 8th, 2006
11:00 p.m.  Received phone call from Julie at Aspasia Marina informing us of a fire on Sub Sea Surveyor
11:15 p.m.  Received phone call from the marina inquiring as to whether anyone was on board etc. Greg Brooks, John Hardy Sr. and Brian Ryder were in route to the scene.
11:30 p.m.  The South Portland Fire Department couldn’t make access to the scene due to a locked gate.  They finally cut the locks.
11:45 p.m.  Coast Guard arrived with a pump and set it on the deck beside the boat.  Greg spoke with the firemen and left the scene.
[Surveyor was listing badly to starboard.  We asked the fire department to pump out the boat.  Maine Department of Environmental Protection told the fire department to pump out the boat.  They told them not to let it sink as it would then become a bigger problem.  The fire department said they had it under control.  The Portland Fire Boat crew told the South Portland Fire Department that they should pump it out before it sunk.  Brian Ryder and Greg Brooks asked to pump it, and were told by the fire department that they had it under control. They would take care of it. We pleaded with them to remove the water.]

Saturday-December 9th, 2006
8:00 a.m.  Greg arrived at the boat and noticed that the boat was low in the water.  The Coast Guard arrived at the same time—3 to 4 people.  We told them that we needed to get the pump going soon or the boat would sink.  The pump was next to the boat on the dock.  The Coast Guard said that they were only there to pick up the pump.  Approximately, twenty minutes later, the Surveyor went down. We tried to get them to use the pump.
9:30 a.m.  The fire department called Jim Fox of Boom Technologies to place an oil boom around the vessel area.  Any oil leakage was contained by the afternoon.
3:00 p.m.  A call was placed to Roger Hale of Fore River Marine construction, and a message was left for him.

Sunday-December 10th, 2006
a.m.  Placed another call to Roger Hale---no answer.
a.m.  Greg Brooks contacted All Season Marine Salvage.  They looked at the job and gave a quote of $8,000.00.  This quote was accepted.

Monday-December 11th, 2006
a.m.  All Season Marine Salvage started bringing in equipment to the site.  Finished at approximately 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday-December 12th, 2006
7:00 a.m.  All Season crew was at the dock.  When Greg arrived, equipment i.e. pumps, barrels etc. were placed on the dock beside the boat.  The owner of Aspasia Marina, George, came out of his on-site office and demanded that everyone leave his property.  This was a total surprise, as the day before, George had told us that All Seasons had worked there before and done a great job and were very professional.  Now, his attitude was a complete turnaround.  He stated that he wanted to see insurance papers, and that they had better be what he liked.  Gordon McKinney from All Seasons called his agent and found out that he was not covered for that type of salvage.  He inquired about adding it, and was told that they didn’t handle it.  Several people called everyone they knew to find coverage, with no results. Greg told the Coast Guard about the fuel spill of another boat—Geno.
12:00 p.m.  The Coast Guard stopped by again (about the 30th time) and informed us that at 4:00 p.m., they were going to classify this as a federal issue.  We had been doing due diligence since the boat sank to get it raised.  All Season supplied a salvage plan which we gave to the Coast Guard.
Sea Tow, who had full insurance, was willing to take over the job but was refused entrance to the property by Aspasia Marina’s owner, George.  He said he would only let Roger Hale do the job.  It is well known that Roger is a friend of his.  It was now 3:00 p.m.  Roger Hale had been made aware of the Coast Guard’s ultimatum.  He quoted us the outrageous price of $55,000.00.  We were given no choice.  Once we informed the Coast Guard, they said they approved of Roger and waived the 4:00 p.m. deadline.  Roger Hale said he’d be over first thing in the morning.

Wednesday-December 13th, 2006
8:00 a.m.  Greg Brooks arrived at the boat. Roger had not called.  He said he was gearing up and would be over later.  Boom Technologies was on site, and the Coast Guard was there.  They said that they would head back to base and await a call.  John Hardy, Sr. called Roger Hale, and was told that he’d be on site by 4:00 p.m.  He said he’d call the Coast Guard and explain.  Greg followed up and called the Coast Guard and got their voice mail.  He left a message at 10:00 a.m.

Thursday-December 14th, 2006
Roger Hale and Aspasia Marina had their attorneys at a meeting, so we had to hire one also. At the meeting, both parties tried to get what they could from us, lawyers fee’s, watching the boat burn fee’s etc. All they wanted to do was squeeze us for everything they could.
Fore River Construction arrived with their barge and crane late in the afternoon.

Friday-December 15th, 2006
Divers were sent to put a cable under the stern, and the boat was lifted and pumped out. It was now afloat. About 10,000.00 an hour……

Fore River did not supply a salvage plan to the Coast Guard. Why is it that we had to and they didn’t? And why did we have 2 hours to get something done and the Coast Guard let Fore River take days to begin?

Why did the Coast Guard tell us we had 2 hours before they would make it a federal spill when we were doing our due diligence? Why didn’t they help us with their pumps that were sitting beside the boat before it sunk? Why did they bring the pump in the first place? Why did they give special treatment to Roger Hale and not us?

Why is it a marina owner can dictate who we hire? And after the sinking they sent us a notice saying our dockage space went from 725.00 per month to 5,000.00 per month?
Why didn’t the South Portland fire department pump out the boat when they were filling it with water? Why didn’t they follow through with their statement of coming back every hour to check on the boat? Why haven’t they been back to investigate the cause of the fire? Why didn’t the Portland Fire boat pump it out, they told the South Portland FD to do it, and they were tied up to our boat?

Why has the avoidable sinking cost us over $150,000.00 and still rising?

[Throughout these events, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Coast Guard and Boom Technologies were on site].